Artemis II
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The first crewed flight of the Space Launch System and Orion, and the first crewed mission beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17. Launched 1 April 2026 at 6:35 p.m. EDT (22:35 UTC) from Launch Complex 39B carrying commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch and CSA mission specialist Jeremy Hansen. A single translunar injection burn placed Orion on a true free-return trajectory — had every engine failed afterwards, lunar gravity would still have returned the crew to Earth. The spacecraft passed behind the lunar far side on 6 April at a closest approach of roughly 6,500 km above the surface, and at 1:56 p.m. EDT that day exceeded Apollo 13's 248,655-mile record for the farthest humans have travelled from Earth, ultimately reaching 252,756 miles (406,771 km). Splashdown off San Diego at 8:07 p.m. EDT on 10 April 2026, after 9 days and about 1 hour. The mission made no lunar orbit insertion and no landing.
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