The Artemis II Moon Mission

Artemis II rocket that was used.

The Artemis II moon mission was planned since 2017, which gave the crew years to prepare the rocket for launch. In 2023 Artemis II was supposed to be launched by NASA but later was stopped at launch because they had compared the launch of Artemis I to Artemis II and workers from NASA saw some technical difficulties. Then later in 2024 it planned to launch officially but later was cancelled due to failing life supporting systems and heat shields.

Then in 2026 the Artemis II Moon mission was officially planned to launch in April. People were really shocked and excited from the news that humans were going back to the Moon after almost 57 years. On April 1 in Florida, the Artemis II rocket was launched into space and sent to space. According to the National Air and Space Museum, the crew included NASA Commander Reid Wiseman, NASA Pilot Victor Glover, NASA Mission Specialist Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency (CSA) Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen. 

According to NASA, during the time the crew was in space they had to test Orion spacecraft systems, operated the ship manually, conducted biomedical research, and photographed the Moon. The mission took 9 Days, 1 Hour, 32 Minutes. After the mission was completed and the shuttle reached earth’s atmosphere, it would splashdown in the Pacific Ocean  off the coast of San Diego. The crew would be picked up by a joint team of NASA and the U.S. Navy.

The Artemis II moon was a success and was loved by millions of people, but many people were curious why they didn’t land on the Moon. But that isn’t planned until Artemis IV, which won’t be until 2028, and would launch after Artemis III in mid-2027. 

Some people had different opinions about the Artemis II launch.

Science teacher Jacqueline Alamilla had her own opinion about the launch. When asked if going to the moon pointless or not she responded with, “Yes and no, I think there are other things needed to be taken care on earth before going to the moon for fun. Like, we have major pollution problems and like a lot of people seem to ignore or not think about, and then there’s just people in general that are struggling to survive in terms of like being able to to afford groceries and gasoline and things when there is a lot of poverty. So I feel like the public would be really upset if just resources are being put on going to the moon.”

English teacher Carl Finer had his own opinion about the launch as well. When asked if he saw it live or on TV, he responded, “I was actually in Florida during spring break where the launch had happened. It was right after I got to Florida, and I was out to dinner at a restaurant with my brother and sister-in-law and my niece, and all the TV’s had the launch coverage.”

He continued, “then when it was about to launch, everyone ran outside to see if they could see it because where I was at in Florida was on the Gulf Coast. But it’s only about a two hour drive to the Atlantic coast where the launch was at Cape Canaveral.”