Artemis II: Current Progress
As of April 8, 2026, the NASA Artemis program is in the final stages of its historic Artemis II mission. This mission marks the first time humans have returned to the lunar vicinity since 1972, serving as a critical crewed flight test of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the Orion spacecraft, which the crew has named Integrity. [1, 2]
Launched on April 1, 2026, Artemis II is currently on its eighth day of a 10-day journey. The crew—Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, and Mission Specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen—successfully completed their lunar flyby on April 6 and 7. [1, 3, 4, 5, 6]
During this maneuver, the spacecraft traveled approximately 252,756 miles from Earth, breaking the human spaceflight distance record previously held by Apollo 13. The crew is now in the “home stretch,” traveling at over 1,700 mph back toward Earth for a planned splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on Friday, April 10, 2026, near San Diego. [1, 2, 3, 4]
Future Mission Milestones
Following the conclusion of Artemis II, NASA has shifted its strategy to focus on gradual risk reduction: [7, 8]
- Artemis III (Mid-2027): This mission was originally intended to be a lunar landing but has been revised to a low Earth orbit test. The crew will test docking procedures with commercial lunar landers from SpaceX or Blue Origin.
- Artemis IV (Early 2028): NASA is currently targeting this mission for the first crewed lunar landing of the program. Astronauts will descend to the lunar South Pole for roughly a week of scientific exploration.
- Artemis V (Late 2028): This mission aims for a second crewed landing and the beginning of Artemis Base Camp construction to establish a permanent human presence. [2, 7, 9, 10]
While the Lunar Gateway space station program was reportedly canceled in March 2026, the program continues to expand internationally, with 61 countries now having signed the Artemis Accords to ensure peaceful space exploration. [2]
[10] https://www.nasa.gov
