Countdown for historic space mission begins

Unlike the Apollo missions, which launched with three astronauts, Artemis II will launch with four. The mission is expected to last 10 days from launch to splashdown.

The mission, which followed Artemis I, launched in 2022 as an unmanned lunar spaceflight, leading the way for other Artemis missions. Artemis I, II and III will eventually pave the way for Artemis IV in 2028, when humans are expected to set foot on the lunar surface.

Despite multiple missions to the moon, the Artemis II will mark some historical firsts for NASA. Astronaut Christina Koch will be the first woman astronaut to travel to the moon, and Jeremy Hansen will be the first Canadian astronaut to make the trek.

Artemis II’s mission will be similar to the Apollo 8 mission, launched in December 1968, as the country was engulfed in political and cultural turmoil following the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy, and riots that rocked several American cities. At the time of the Apollo 8 mission, the group of astronauts was credited for saving 1968 as they orbited the moon on Christmas Eve, capturing worldwide attention in the race for the moon.

During the 1960s, the U.S. was also engaged in the Cold War with the Soviet Union, with the Russians battling the U.S. for the race to the moon, propelling the breakneck speed of NASA’s Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs supported by President John F. Kennedy. Today, the U.S. is involved in a new space race against a different communist country, China.

Over the past 45 years, the U.S. has focused its human space missions on orbiting Earth. Despite not launching a mission beyond Earth’s orbit in nearly 60 years, costs for the latest mission program have decreased.

The Apollo program cost American taxpayers $290 billion (inflation-adjusted) by the time of the first moon landing, Apollo 11, in 1969. NASA predicts the Artemis program will cost taxpayers $105 billion by the first landing, which is expected to launch by 2028.