NASA is making headway in its preparations for the Artemis II mission. Technicians at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida have attached the heat shield to the Artemis II Orion spacecraft. Orion and its four-person crew are scheduled to launch atop NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket in 2024. The mission will carry them into deep space around the Moon, farther than any human has flown.
In November 2022, an uncrewed Orion capsule launched on Artemis I, a 25-day trip to lunar orbit and back. Artemis II will employ a free-return trajectory profile, which forgoes an orbital injection burn at the Moon and puts the spacecraft on a path back to Earth. Once Orion completes its lunar pass, the Artemis II crew will be on a course back to Earth.