NASA’s Artemis crew: Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, Jeremy Hansen. NASA/Frank Michaux
Just as the crocuses and daffodils are bursting through and bringing much needed colour to our landscape in the UK, NASA’s four Artemis astronauts are preparing for their Spring launch to the Moon and back. The crew will be the first to reach the Moon since Apollo 17 in December 1972. Their launch was set for this month, then delayed due to a liquid hydrogen leak, so the fabulous four will have to wait until March. It seems that patience is a crucial personality trait for an astronaut.
Once launched in their Orion capsule, the crew will cover a total distance of around 2 million km, this includes loops around the Earth and Moon. This distance is equivalent to circumnavigating the Earth fifty times. Don’t worry, they will get a loo break. They will almost kiss the far side of the Moon but they won’t land, they’ll also go farther from Earth than previous crewed missions, out to 400,000 km, and after ten days they’ll return home back in time for Easter.
After using the Moon’s gravity to slingshot themselves back to Earth, they will break the record for the fastest re-entry to Earth’s atmosphere, plunging through at 40,000 kilometres per hour (breaking the national speed limit and I imagine frightening some birds on the way down) and eventually landing in the Pacific Ocean. The heat shield will need to withstand temperatures of a whopping 2,700 degrees Celsius, about halfway to matching the extreme temperature of the Sun.
So what will the crew do when they’re out there? They’ll take photos only you and I can dream of taking, filling up their Instagram feed and racking up likes as they go. They’ll also carry out some serious science on themselves, their journey is the start of a project to send humans on long trips to the Moon. In the future, astronauts will hop between the lunar surface and an orbiting space station called the Lunar Gateway - unlikely to have a Burger King as you would find at a motorway service station. Eventually they may use the Moon as a launchpad to travel out to Mars and who knows where else. Future travel plans may be scarier than Alex Honnold’s free solos, there’s the threat of space radiation sickness, and muscle weakness from long stays in weak gravity.
The Artemis crew will carry lab-grown tissue samples with them for testing. Their saliva will be tested for immune biomarkers, as research shows radiation can supress the immune system. They will wear wrist devices to monitor their movements and sleep (including loo breaks!), their behaviour and cognitive performance will be examined. If that’s not enough, as soon as they land back on Earth they will conduct simulated spacewalks to assess their recovery. The results will inform plans for future missions, including Artemis III. All being well, two astronauts will land near the lunar south pole, believed to be rich in water ice, but not enough to host the next Winter Olympics.
An active presence on the Moon is an international goal. In March 2025 a lunar GPS was set up successfully by NASA and the Italian Space Agency. Lunar coordinated time is a thing now, analogous to universal coordinated time (UTC) on Earth but taking into account the effects of gravity on time. China and Russia are planning to construct their own International Lunar Research Station, ESA (European Space Agency) have initiated their Moon Village ideas hub – these include scientific exploration, mining, tourism, telescopes, pubs, artisan bakeries – the list is limitless, if you have the budget. Having said that, the rents are most likely cheaper than central London.
About the author
This blog was written by Radmila Topalovic, astronomer and co-author of Night Sky Almanac 2026, Stargazing, 2026 Guide to the Night Sky and more.
Explore more of Radmila's books here.