NASA Names Artemis II Astronauts for 2025 Moon Mission—First Humans Heading Back to Lunar Orbit

NASA’s Artemis II moon mission is racing toward a dramatic finale as the four-person crew prepares for Friday’s splashdown after a 10-day lunar flyby that marked humanity’s first return to deep space in half a century. Launched on 1 April from Kennedy Space Center, the Orion spacecraft has already looped 8,900 km beyond the far side of the Moon, beamed back jaw-dropping “Earthset” images and tested every critical life-support and navigation system needed for future lunar landings. Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch and mission specialist Jeremy Hansen spent Thursday cataloguing samples, recording science logs and speaking with students before strapping in for the fiery 40,000 km/h re-entry that engineers call the toughest phase of the flight. NASA’s flight plan targets an 8:07 p.m. EDT splashdown in the Pacific, about 300 km south of San Diego. Real-time tracking shows Orion skimming just 99 km above the lunar surface on its final pass before setting course for Earth. Recovery teams aboard the USS John P. Murtha are already on station, rehearsing capsule retrieval drills and helicopter evacuations should weather shift. Back on Earth, mission control lit up when the crew shared reflections from 384,000 km away. “From up here you see no borders, only one fragile, brilliant planet,” Koch said during a live linkup, urging students to “find joy in exploring the unknown”. Her words echoed Artemis II’s broader goal: prove NASA’s next-generation systems are ready so Artemis III can land astronauts near the Moon’s south pole as early as 2028. How to watch: NASA TV will stream continuous coverage of today’s de-orbit burn, atmospheric skip maneuver and ocean recovery beginning at 5 p.m. EDT. Viewers can also follow live telemetry on NASA’s Artemis tracker and social channels using the hashtag #Artemis2. Why it matters: Artemis II validates the Space Launch System rocket, Orion capsule, European Service Module and advanced heat-shield technologies in one integrated mission—the gateway to sustained lunar exploration, resource prospecting and, eventually, crewed voyages to Mars. With commercial landers and a lunar-orbiting Gateway station on the horizon, Friday’s safe return would seal the most ambitious crewed test flight since Apollo 17 and reignite global excitement for deep-space travel.