Artemis Il: Mission Overview

The approximately 10-day Artemis II flight test will
launch on the agency's powerful Space Launch
System (SLS) rocket, prove the Orion spacecraft's
life-support systems, and validate the capabilities and
techniques needed for humans to live and work in
deep space.
The astronauts will launch from NASA Kennedy Space
Center's Launch Pad 39B atop the SLS rocket as it
generates 8.8 million pounds of thrust, beginning their
600,000 mile journey. Once out of our atmosphere,
these star sailors will conduct a targeting
demonstration and check the Orion spacecraft's
systems near Earth before they head around the Moon
and back to Earth, reentering our atmosphere at 30
times the speed of sound, before gently splashing
down in the Pacific Ocean.
Artemis Il's crew is comprised of NASA astronauts
commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover,
mission specialist Christina Koch; and Canadian
Space Agency astronaut and mission specialist
Jeremy Hansen.