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Artemis II is a lunar flyby mission under the Artemis program. The craft was launched from Kennedy Space Center on April 1, 2026 on a ten-day mission to carry NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, on a free-return trajectory around the Moon and back to Earth.
Launch Date: April 1, 2026.
Duration: Approx. 10 days.
Trajectory: Earth orbit, translunar injection, lunar flyby (no orbit), and return.
Key Flight Day 1: Launch, perigee raise maneuver, and initial systems check.
Key Flight Day 2-4: Translunar injection burns, accelerating towards the Moon.
Key Flight Day 5-6: Lunar flyby, reaching the far side of the Moon.
Return: Re-entry, parachute deployment, and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean