By Ariana Estrada
To the moon and back we go…well, almost! For the first time in over 50 years, humans will head toward the moon, this time via the Artemis II mission instead of Apollo. As the first crewed flight of NASA’s Artemis program, it’s our chance to see astronauts head back into deep space and put systems to the ultimate test. Artemis II builds on the success of Artemis I — a humanless flight test that launched November 16, 2022, and safely returned December 11, 2022. This time, however, there’s a crew on board.
NASA will finally get to see how life‑support, navigation, and communication systems perform in the real conditions future Moon explorers will face. Artemis II is designed to show whether these systems, and the astronauts who depend on them, are truly ready for the next phase of moon missions. It is the mission that turns deep‑space travel from a hardware test into a human experience, giving NASA the information it needs before sending crews back to the lunar surface. And for the rest of us on the ground, this mission offers a rare opportunity to see history unfold.
Image Credit: NASA/Frank Michaux. Four astronauts of Artemis II from left to right: Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen.
Meet the Crew of Artemis II
Artemis II — the first crewed mission to lunar space since 1972 — will host four extraordinary astronauts tasked with carrying out its mission. Commander Reid Wiseman brings experience from his time aboard the International Space Station and his role as a former chief of the Astronaut Office. Pilot Victor Glover, who flew on SpaceX Crew‑1, has already completed multiple spacewalks and brings deep operational expertise to the mission. Mission Specialist Christina Koch holds the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman and participated in the first all‑female spacewalks, making her an experienced explorer of long‑duration missions. Rounding out the crew is Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen, a Canadian Space Agency astronaut and former fighter pilot who will become the first Canadian to travel to the Moon. Together, they will take humanity farther from home than any crew in more than half a century.
Image Credit: NASA. Orion Spacecraft.
Orion: A Home (Very Far) Away from Home
Humans aren’t the only factors unique to the Artemis II mission. Orion — the spacecraft, not the rocket — is NASA’s newest vehicle purposely created for safe human travel for up to 21 days without docking. It has only flown once before, during the successful uncrewed Artemis I mission, which paved the way for the upgrades needed to support astronauts on board. Orion’s critical components include a protective heat shield that can withstand up to 2,760° C (5,000° F), highly autonomous controls that replace hundreds of manual switches with just three main display screens, and a parachute system powerful enough to slow Orion from 40,233 km/h (25,000 mph) to about 523 km/h (325 mph) during re‑entry.
Despite its compact size (5.02 meters (16 ft 6 in) in diameter and 3.3 meters (10 ft 10 in) in length), Orion has been refined since Artemis I and outfitted with everything astronauts will need for the journey. It now includes a food reheater, water dispenser, storage space, and even a toilet! It’s a small but mighty home designed to keep its crew safe, comfortable, and mission‑ready as they travel farther from Earth than any human has in decades.
Image Credit: NASA. A labeled diagram of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS), showing the rocket’s boosters, engines, and stages beneath the Orion spacecraft.
SLS: The Rocket Built to Break Boundaries
The Space Launch System, or SLS, is the rocket that will send Orion and its crew on their journey into deep space. The SLS has only been used once during Artemis I and is NASA’s most powerful rocket to date, providing the enormous thrust needed to break free from Earth’s gravity in a single launch, sending Orion on a precise trajectory that will carry it toward the Moon’s vicinity. The Space Launch System’s job is simple in concept but monumental in execution: lift humans, hardware, and hope off the ground and into the expanse beyond.
The SLS is incredibly powerful because of the combination of hardware stacked beneath Orion. The rocket uses two solid rocket boosters and four engines at its base, all firing together to produce millions of pounds of thrust at liftoff. Above this sits the “upper stage”, that helps push Orion deeper into space once the vehicle is above Earth’s atmosphere. The upper portion of the stack includes adapters, protective panels, and the service module that houses Orion’s propulsion and life‑support equipment. All of these pieces work together as a single, towering launch system designed to carry astronauts farther than any human has traveled in more than fifty years.
Image Credit: NASA. A mission‑map infographic showing the full Artemis II flight path from launch to lunar flyby and splashdown.
The Mission: To the Moon and Beyond
Artemis II is designed to be a ten‑day mission that will send astronauts around the Moon on a looping free‑return path to test Orion’s systems in deep space before upcoming lunar landings. After launch, Orion will travel roughly 7,400 km (4,600 miles) beyond the Moon — about 400,000 km (250,000 miles) from Earth — and give the crew a view no human has seen since the Apollo era.
Before heading outward, the spacecraft will complete a series of planned maneuvers in Earth orbit, including a period where the crew will test life‑support, exercise, and habitation systems onboard. Once those checks are complete, Orion will separate from its upper stage and perform the trans‑lunar injection burn that places the spacecraft on a free‑return path toward the Moon.
Along the way, the crew will photograph and describe lunar features, practicing the observational skills future Moon‑walkers will need. After sweeping past the lunar far side at an altitude of about 6,513 km (4,047 miles), Orion will begin its journey home, performing small trajectory adjustments as required. Once the flyby is complete, Orion will swing back toward Earth, blaze through the atmosphere, and splash down in the Pacific Ocean, bringing the crew safely home.
Image Credit: SETI-Unistellar Citizen Astronomer Olivier C. Artemis I showed a mysterious, brief, bright “glint” as the spacecraft headed home.
Why Artemis II – and You – Matter
Artemis II marks the moment when humanity begins to step back into space exploration, not as a memory, but as an unfolding story. This mission brings together decades of engineering to prepare NASA for sustainable lunar research, expand our presence deeper into space, and inspire a new generation of astronauts, engineers, and citizen astronomers. It also opens the door for the public to take part in the journey, whether by simply sharing the excitement that fuels exploration, observing the mission with backyard telescopes, or participating in citizen‑science projects.
Even though Artemis II is expected to launch no earlier than April, we already have a sense of what citizen scientists can expect to see. Based on Artemis I observations, Orion should become visible from many parts of the world within the first eight hours to a day after liftoff. Early on, when the spacecraft is still close to Earth, it will move quickly across the sky, giving telescopes only a few minutes to catch it. A few hours later, those viewing windows may stretch to 10 – 15 minutes, and after about a day, passes could last 20 – 30 minutes before Orion fades from view. As it travels farther into deep space, some observers may enjoy longer, slower arcs depending on their observing conditions.
Through a telescope, Orion will appear as a small point of light, much like a slow‑moving asteroid. However, unlike cosmic bodies, Orion could experience brief changes in brightness as sunlight falls on a panel or as the spacecraft shifts. For instance, Unistellar citizen astronomers spotted a mysterious “glint” on Artemis I’s return trip — a sudden brightening that was never fully explained — and something similar could happen again.
Ground-based observations can help confirm Orion’s position and track its brightness, and your participation turns a distant mission into a shared experience. Community science brings people together, reminding us that deep‑space exploration isn’t just something happening far away, but something we can take part in from right here on Earth.
How to Observe Artemis II with your Unistellar Telescope
To observe the Artemis II mission with your Unistellar Telescope during its homebound journey, follow the instructions on our Planetary Defense Tutorial page and scroll down to option B: The Planetary Defense target is not in the Unistellar App’s database. This will instruct you on how to use our Moving Target Ephemerides page to plan your observation of Artemis II using the Planetary Defense science mode. This page will provide Deep Links that open the Unistellar app and contain all the observing parameters you need to make a 40-minute-long observation.
Keep your Eye out for Sparks in the Sky!
During the observation of Artemis II, skywatchers have the chance to see an incredible phenomenon: a lunar flash. A lunar flash is a sudden, bright flash of light triggered by the impact of an object from space on the dark side of the moon. Unlike the “shooting star” atmospheric effect a meteor creates in the sky, a lunar flash is purely mechanical, produced by a high-velocity rock hitting another rock (the moon). Although the collisions are not rare, they occur randomly and are usually observed serendipitously as people gaze at the moon. Additionally, when an astronomical object strikes the bright side of the moon, they are nearly impossible to see from Earth. However, from space, astronauts have the ability to see much smaller and closer collisions, including those on the moon’s illuminated side.
Citizen astronomers can use telescopes and digital cameras to view lunar flashes and, most importantly, record their timing. Even though recommended observations last up to 8 hours, each flash lasts less than a second. Don’t let that deter you from moon watching, because when Earth crosses the path of a meteor shower, lunar flashes occur more frequently. Luckily, two meteor showers will take place in the near future, when observers and astronauts will have a heightened chance of witnessing a flash: the Lyrids Meteor Shower’s peak from April 21-22 and the Eta Aquariids Meteor Shower’s peak from May 5-6. To observe a lunar flash, Unistellar observers can simply observe the moon and screen-record observations to pinpoint the timing of any flashes they see. Recording this data can assist astronaut observations to determine the size and velocity of each celestial body.
It’s not necessary to be an astronaut to participate in a historical astronomical event — observing from Earth is just as important. The journey back to deep space is long, but Artemis II reminds us that we are already on our way. The next era of human spaceflight has begun, and we all have a place in it.