Crewed mission to the Moon planned for February 2026
NASA has revealed that it plans a crewed mission to the Moon as early as February 2026. The organisation hopes to send astronauts on a ten-day trip and has previously committed to bring the mission forward from its original plan of no later than the end of April.
It has been 50 years since the last crewed mission to the Moon. NASA plans to send four astronauts as part of its Artemis programme to test systems. Its aim is to land there and eventually hopes to establish a long-term presence on the surface.
It would be an important moment in the human exploration of space, Lakiesha Hawkins, Nasa’s acting deputy associate administrator said. “We together have a front row seat to history,” she said at a news conference. “The launch window could open as early as the fifth of February, but we want to emphasize that safety is our top priority.”
The powerful rocket system built to take people there, the Space Launch System (SLS) is “pretty much stacked and ready to go,” according to Artemis Launch Director, Charlie Blackwell-Thompson. All that is still to be completed is the crew capsule, Orion, which connects to SLS.
The first Artemis mission lasted 25 days and involved uncrewed spacecraft in November 2022. The craft travelled around the Moon before re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere. It was hailed as a success, though it had issues with its heatshield as it entered the atmosphere, issues which have since bene resolved.
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