Artemis 2 astronauts lift off for NASA’s first manned moon mission in over 50 years

The mission will have the astronauts orbit the moon to validate life‑support systems, deep‑space navigation and manual piloting techniques essential for future landings, according to an April 1 news release from Texas A&M University.

Artemis 2 intends to take its crew farther from Earth than any previous manned mission, potentially surpassing the 248,655-mile record set by Apollo 13, according to NASA’s website.

The four astronauts will be able to view the moon from a higher altitude, about 4,000-6,000 miles above the moon's surface, than the Apollo missions, which flew at an altitude of about 70 miles above the moon’s surface, according to NASA’s website.

As a result, the astronauts will see the entire disk of the moon, including areas near the north and south poles.  At closest approach, the moon will appear to the Artemis 2 crew to be about the size of a basketball held at arm’s length, according to previous reporting by Community Impact.

Quote of note

“Building on the uncrewed Artemis I mission, which sent Orion 1.4 million miles beyond the moon and back, Artemis II will begin with two Earth orbits including a high‑Earth orbit before the crew embarks on a trajectory that will take them thousands of miles beyond the lunar far side—the farthest any humans will have traveled from Earth," Texas A&M professor Dr. Bonnie Dunbar, a former NASA astronaut who has flown five shuttle missions, said in the release.