Kennedy Space Center – Even if you fly around it, it may not be nine months before humanity returns to the moon. People returned the flight to Space Coast on Wednesday, to ride and log time on Orion’s spaceship.
First, NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch will join astronaut Jeremy Hansen, a Canadian Space Agency astronaut, and Artemis II crews will do something they have never done before.
“It’s a great choice for launch and entry suits. Head to the (multipayload processing facility) and enter the vehicle,” Wiseman said in advance at a press conference. “The four of us will be joining Orion’s spaceship for the first time.”
Koch saw the launch above the space launch system rocket on KSC’s launch pad 39-B, and could come even faster if things went well.
“April is the official date. We are always looking for opportunities to launch faster as a team. Some of these opportunities are already there in February,” she said.
Keeping the mission at a pace could help all four agreed to gain more public and political support amid growing criticism due to Artemis’ delays and costs.
“We don’t move away from the reality we are in. I really think Artemis is the right program at the right time to gain a lasting human presence around the moon and Mars,” Wiseman said. “We believe in that. So we’re going to fly Artemis II. We’re going to move on to this mission. We’ll do as fully as possible with our team on the ground. We’re proud of the whole country and the world.
The Quartet will be the first person to fly to the moon since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972, but will only fly and test Orion by not landing. This is the first time a human has been on an Orion spaceship. That version flew to the moon without crew in 2022 on the Artemis I mission.
But how the Artemis program continues its efforts to support its missions on the Moon and Mars has since been in the political crosshairs.
Earlier this year, President Trump’s proposed budget attempted to kill the Orion Program and the space-launching system rocket after Artemis III. Other missions rely on commercial partners such as SpaceX and Blue Origin.
Glover added that it is not possible now because of the uncertain future of the Artemis program.
“I don’t know what a year will look like now — a year and a half from now — but for the next six months, we know exactly what we have to do,” says Glover. “We’re focused and part of a team that knows what we have to do.”
With the Senate push backing SLS and Orion’s past Artemis III, funding has already been secured as part of Trump’s “one big beautiful bill,” Congress has outlined the ongoing support for the existing Artemis Mission programme in its own budget. So, missions like Artemis IV and V using SLS and Orion may still see the light of day, but Glover is the best way to get political support, regardless of the path forward.
“We can be concerned about the lack of impact, but it can affect the success of the mission. So we’re turning our eyes to making Artemis II a success. “And that’s also the best way to ensure there’s something beyond Artemis II.”
Another concern about the mission is the workforce cuts that began after Trump took office, with more than 4,000 NASA employees leaving or acquire them since January.
“The leadership of our mission management team and our team, they’re just as they are,” Wiseman said. “They’re healthy. The best part for me is talking about that exact topic at every high-level meeting we have. “Where are our numbers?” “We’re losing important people?” “We’re expanding important people?”
Wiseman said the four were scheduled to meet new interim NASA administrator Sean Duffy for the first time this week.
Wiseman pointed out their role as ambassadors to solidify support for the programme, with the goal of returning to the moon crossing the political aisle.
“There’s no reception to attend a bipartisan meeting on the hill,” he said. “When we walk there, this is what the country wants to go and this is what our political leadership wants to go.”
The original launch target has not been met, and the Balloon Budget is driving criticism of the Artemis program. The inspector’s NASA office said by the time Artemis III flies in late 2023, it will spend more than $93 billion on the program since its inception in 2012.
Artemis I wasn’t flying until November 2022. Due to some of the unexpected damages suffered by the Orion spacecraft’s heat shield, Artemis II cut off plans to lift it as early as 2024.
“Whenever I talk about fires, whenever I talk about entry and heat shields, I talk about parachutes. These are high risk… they have to work. “They sharpened us with pencils and made us more due diligence and more vigilant in the process.”
The plan is to give Artemis III’s Orion Spacecraft a newly designed heat shield, but pushed Artemis II to not delay even further, so the team registered a flight pass and changed it to reduce the risk of repeating what was seen on Artemis I.
“I think we did that, so I think the crew is comfortable for that team,” Glover said. “We know how many people are watching this, so I think at the end of the day they were thinking about us and our family when they were at work.”
Original issue: July 30th, 2025, 11:59am EDT
