Artemis II – the 54 Year Frontier

Artemis II is one of NASA’s most recent rocketships. It was launched on April 1st, 2026, at 6:35 pm. This launch was historic because the years between this launch and the last manned space travel were 54 years apart; the last manned space travel was in 1972!

Before the launch, former astronauts came onto the broadcast and talked about how it felt to launch and know that they’d be in space. However, the countdown was delayed because NASA had to do more preparations for the flight. Some people were wondering whether they would still launch for a few minutes, but they got back on track and were ready to begin the countdown to the launch.

NASA issued a final poll to the whole team as to whether they should launch that day, to which the entire team voted “yes”. The countdown started, and when it hit zero, the rocket engulfed the aluminum-lithium alloy floor in flames, sending it flying towards space and later, the moon’s orbit.

The capsule is scheduled to splash down into the Pacific, off the coast of San Diego, on April 10, 2026, at about 5:07 pm. They captured many pictures of the current moon, which will be used to find landing sites, study geological features, and much more. The pictures of the moon have been published and can be viewed simply with a Google search. Artemis II is most likely helping to plan future space missions and studies as I write this article!

Works cited: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PiO495X8Sg

https://www.nasa.gov/