With the Artemis II spacecraft on the launchpad and engineers doing final checks in preparation for spaceflight, the crew of the upcoming mission have gone into quarantine.  NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen have entered the pre-flight period called the health stabilization program.  This is a period of isolation to help prevent the astronauts from picking up any illnesses that could delay their flight.

Typically, astronauts go into quarantine about 14 days before launch.  If all goes well with the wet dress rehearsal, they will fly to Kennedy Space Center in Florida about six days ahead of the spaceflight.  There, they live in astronaut crew quarters until launch.  During quarantine, they can continue regular contact with family (provided they follow quarantine rules), but they avoid public places, wear masks, and maintain distance with people they come in contact with.

If the wet dress rehearsal shows that the spacecraft is not ready for launch, the astronauts can come out of quarantine and will reenter quarantine 14 days before the next flight window.  The first flight window opens up in early February.

You can read more about the Artemis II mission preparations here. 

The Artemis II mission is set to launch this year, marking the first manned return to the moon since the end of the Apollo program.  As we get closer to the first possible launch window, there is still a lot to do to get ready!1

The SLS system and Orion spacecraft are currently at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.  Soon, (no earlier than Saturday, January 17th) the agency will send both parts of the rocket from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39B.  Though the two sites are only four miles apart, the journey takes up to twelve hours to complete!

Once the integrated rocket and spacecraft reach the launch pad, there is a long list of preparations that need to happen.  These include connecting ground support equipment, powering up integrated systems, and a final walkdown at the pad by the crew.

At the end of January, NASA will perform what is called a "wet dress rehearsal".  This is a prelaunch test to fuel the rocket.  Teams load more than 700,000 gallons of cryogenic propellants into the rocket, perform a countdown, and practice safely removing propellant from the rocket.  The astronauts are not onsite for this rehearsal.  There will be multiple runs of this rehearsal.  NASA engineers will use lessons they learned from the unmanned Artemis I launch to ensure that the vehicle is as safe as possible for the astronauts.  If needed, the SLS system and Orion will be rolled back to the Vehicle Assembly Building to make any necessary adjustments.

Following a successful wet dress rehearsal, there is a flight readiness review, where all systems are checked.  If everything is working properly, a launch date will be set.  The earliest possible launch date is February 6th.  If the spacecraft is not ready, there are also possible launch windows in March and April.  Check out this article for more info.  We'll keep you up to date with Artemis's activity here as well!

The first crewed Artemis mission is scheduled to launch no later than April of 2026.  The four astronauts aboard will travel around the moon on a ten day mission.  Their job will be to confirm that all of the spacecraft's system work as designed while in deep space with crew aboard.

The crew will include NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen.  The Artemis astronauts are preparing for their trip through intensive training in simulators, geology field trips, practicing emergency procedures, and mastering the Orion spacecraft's systems.

The earliest possible launch window for Artemis II is the beginning of February.  We will be watching for updates from NASA here.