Throughout the past 50 years, humanity has reached for the stars in increasingly mind-blowing ways. The National Space and Aeronautics Administration (NASA) and their most recent lunar mission, Artemis II, is one of the most famous and record-breaking missions in history. Launching on April 1, 2026, the crew includes the first Black astronaut and first woman astronaut to visit the Moon.

The Crew

The Artemis 2 crew consists of four members: the mission commander, pilot and two mission specialists. Every member of the crew will serve as scientific ambassadors to the dark side of the moon. According to NASA, once the crew reaches the dark side of the moon, they’ll have a three hour period to “analyze and photograph geological features, such as impact craters and ancient lava flows.” The skills they learn on this mission will serve useful to the upcoming Artemis IV mission in 2028.

However, the mission itself isn’t the only thing breaking records, the astronauts themselves are as well.

The pilot, Victor J. Glover, will be the first Black astronaut to visit the Moon. He’s also the first to pilot the Orion capsule, alongside the massive Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. Previously, he’d also broken records as the first Black astronaut to visit the International Space Station (ISS) and being the first to pilot the SpaceX Dragon crew capsule.

Mission Specialist, Christina Koch (pronounced “cook”), will be the first woman to visit the Moon. She also holds the record for the most consecutive days in space by a woman, having spent 328 days on the ISS between March 2019 and February 2020.

Mission Specialist, Jeremy Hansen, will be the first non-American to visit the Moon. Hansen is a part of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and is the tenth Canadian to launch into space. However, he’s also the only one of the crew to not have gone to space before.

Finally, not to be outdone by his crew, Mission Commander Reid Wiseman will be the oldest astronaut to visit the Moon. Wiseman is the oldest of the crew at 50 years old, beating Hansen by 77 days and taking the record from legendary astronaut Alan Shepard.

Distance

Many satellites have been launched from Earth to explore the cosmos, but the Artemis II spacecraft will break the record for human distance. The crew will make a “free-return trajectory,” meaning that they’ll essentially slingshot around the Moon and return to Earth without having to carry a return burn. (This is different from the Apollo missions, as many had to make a temporary orbit around the Moon to get back; except for Apollo 13, who actually had to make a free-return trajectory.)

They’re expected to make a maximum of 250,000 miles, “around 1,500 miles more than the Apollo 13 crew” and will occur when they’re “out of radio contact for about 50 minutes as they traverse the far side of the Moon.” They made history on Monday, April 6, 2026 as they “[surpassed] the record of 248,655 miles set by Apollo 13 in 1970. The previous record fell at 1:57 p.m. as the Orion capsule ‘Integrity’ began its loop around the far side of the Moon.”

Goals of Artemis II

NASA is hoping to achieve many things before their upcoming Artemis missions in 2027 and 2028. This test flight will “confirm the systems necessary to support astronauts in deep space exploration and prepare to establish a sustained presence on the Moon,” according to NASA. 

Though the mission itself raises a question: since the crew isn’t landing on the Moon, why is this important? The mission will “verify [that] Orion’s life support systems can support astronauts on longer-duration missions ahead and allow the crew to practice operations essential to Artemis III and beyond.”

Throughout the ten day mission, the crew will make new discoveries and explore the mysterious dark side of the moon. Overall, the Artemis missions will pave the way for humanity’s next scientific achievements and deepen our understanding of the universe around us. 

Sites Sourced 

1. NASA. “Our Artemis Crew” nasa.gov
2. Baker. “Farthest, fastest and most diverse: 6 major records the Artemis ii will smash as NASA returns to the moon” March 30, 2026, livescience.com 
3. Warner. “NASA Answers Your Most Pressing Artemis ii Questions” April 4, 2026, nasa.gov