Bristi Dey
Artemis II, set to launch on April 1, will be the first crewed mission of NASA’s Artemis program. Also this will mark the first time when humans will travel in the vicinity of the moon after 1972.
Prior to this, Artemis I was launched to orbit around the moon and it completed the mission uncrewed in the timespan of a month.
The goal of this 10-day mission is to ensure all life-support and navigation systems are safe for future lunar missions.
During the mission Artemis II won't actually land on the moon, but will slingshot around the lunar far side in a figure-eight trajectory. With this the spacecraft will be put on a direct course back to Earth where the gravity will pull down the spacecraft for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.
The success of this mission is crucial as with the green light from this, NASA will prepare Artemis III for its launch which will land on the South pole of the moon in the upcoming days.
The astronauts onboard will be Jeremy Hansen, Christina Koch, Victor Glover and Reid Wiseman.