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NASA is preparing to launch Artemis 2 on April 1, 2026, sending four astronauts around the Moon on the agency’s first crewed mission beyond low Earth orbit in more than five decades.

NASA is preparing to launch four astronauts on the 10-day Artemis 2 lunar mission on April 1, with agency officials stressing that the schedule is serious despite the date.

As Artemis 2 prepares to send humans beyond Earth’s protective magnetic environment, NASA’s Orion capsule includes a radiation monitoring and shelter plan for the possibility of a severe solar storm.

As NASA prepares for Artemis 2, the mission’s basic figures reveal the scale, cost, and symbolism of sending astronauts around the Moon for the first time since Apollo.

NASA has started the formal countdown for Artemis 2, with mission managers reporting no major issues ahead of the planned April 1 launch window.

As the Artemis 2 crew arrives in Florida for an April 1 launch attempt, NASA is tying the mission to a wider restructuring that emphasizes lunar surface operations over a Moon-orbiting outpost.

Analysis of returned OSIRIS-REx samples suggests Bennu’s low thermal inertia comes from cracks within its surface rocks, helping explain why the asteroid looked so different up close than it did from Earth.

A mysterious medical episode that left veteran astronaut Michael Fincke briefly unable to speak is sharpening concerns about crew health as NASA moves toward longer lunar missions.

NASA and NOAA are working to protect Artemis astronauts from dangerous solar storms, a reminder that returning humans to the Moon means operating beyond the relative shelter of Earth’s magnetosphere.

NASA says Artemis 2 remains on schedule for an April 1 launch window, with agency officials reporting no technical issues currently threatening the first crewed moon mission of the Artemis era.

A precision optical vortex phase mask is emerging as a key technology for directly imaging faint Earth-like planets by canceling out the overwhelming light of their host stars.

Artemis 2 astronaut Victor Glover says the moon mission should engage people who do not usually follow spaceflight, framing the program as a public-facing effort rather than a milestone exercise alone.

NASA astronaut Christina Koch says Artemis 2 is moving ahead with urgency as she prepares to become the first woman to travel beyond low Earth orbit on the mission’s round-the-moon flight.

NASA’s first crewed lunar mission since Apollo is approaching the pad, and commander Reid Wiseman is presenting it less as spectacle than as a disciplined, high-stakes operational job.

When Artemis 2 flies its planned 10-day lunar mission, NASA’s astronauts will have access to a private bathroom inside Orion, a sharp contrast with Apollo-era waste systems that offered little privacy.

NASA says it intends to seek industry proposals for a backward-compatible Ka-band relay service as the agency prepares for declining capacity in its aging Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System.

Artemis II mission specialist Jeremy Hansen is set to become the first Canadian to fly around the moon, capping a long wait that included years of technical, policy, and astronaut-training work.

NASA’s Artemis 2 astronauts are deep into simulations, launch rehearsals, and spacecraft operations training as the agency prepares for humanity’s first crewed mission around the moon in decades.

NASA has named 10 participating scientists to help design and support lunar surface science for Artemis missions, strengthening the agency’s push to turn crewed Moon landings into a sustained research campaign.

NASA says a set of technology and science demonstrations will fly on SpaceX’s Transporter-16 mission, with experiments spanning space weather, magnetic-field sensing, in-space communications, logistics, and thermal-prote