Space & Astronomy

Not long now: NASA announces Artemis II update and launch date

By T.K. Randall
February 21, 2026

Image: Artemis I Rollout
Credit: Joel Kowsky / (PD) NASA Back at the beginning of February, hopes of an imminent launch of Artemis II - the mission that will see the first crew fly around the Moon in more than five decades - were dashed when a hydrogen fuel leak was detected during a wet dress rehearsal (essentially a full run-through of all the preparatory steps before launch including the fueling of the rocket itself).

Now, almost three weeks on, the issue with the leak has been fixed and NASA has revealed that the latest wet dress rehearsal has been successfully completed without a hitch.

This means that the mission is now scheduled to launch on March 6th.

While there are still other checks that will need to happen ahead of the launch, it is looking promising that we will see the crew soar into the heavens within the next two weeks.The first manned mission to the Moon since the Apollo era, Artemis II won't actually land on the surface (that will be the next mission after this one).

Instead, the flight will see a crew of four astronauts spend over a week in space to test out all the technology.

The astronauts going on the mission will be NASA's Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, as well as Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency.

They will be the first humans to venture beyond near-Earth orbit since 1972.

Source: The Guardian

Tags: Artemis, Moon