NASA unveils date range for 1st crewed Artemis moon mission. Here's when it could happen

• NASA's Artemis program is the agency's ambitious campaign to return Americans to the surface of the moon for the first time in more than 50 years.
• The upcoming Artemis II represents the first crewed U.S. lunar mission since the 1970s and will precede the Artemis III moon landing in 2027.
• NASA has confirmed that not only is Artemis II on track for launch by April 2026, but could potentially be moved up to February.

The first group of American astronauts to travel within the vicinity of the moon in more than half a century could be embarking on their historic journey much earlier than expected.

NASA's Artemis campaign represents the U.S. space agency's lofty ambition of not only returning humans to the lunar surface, but leaving them there. In the years ahead, the groundwork could be laid for a permanent human settlement on Earth's celestial neighbor, which would serve as a base of operations to make possible the first crewed voyages to Mars.

And it could all begin in 2026 with the launch of a mission known as Artemis II.

While the four astronauts selected for the upcoming mission – including one Canadian – won't be touching down on the surface of the moon itself, they will swing by our natural satellite in order to set the stage for future landings. At a press conference Sept. 23, the astronauts and NASA officials provided an updated timeline for the mission, and even unveiled the name for the Orion capsule that will shuttle the spacefarers through the cosmos.

Here's everything to know about NASA's Artemis lunar campaign, and when the first crewed mission under the program could launch.

What are NASA's Artemis missions?

NASA's Artemis program is the agency's ambitious campaign to return Americans to the surface of the moon for the first time in more than 50 years. The last U.S. astronaut to land on the moon was on Dec. 19, 1972, during NASA's Apollo 17 mission.

Artemis I launched Nov. 16, 2022, from the Kennedy Space Center, sending the Orion capsule on a moon orbiting mission without a crew in the first test of the vehicle. The Orion splashed down Dec. 11, 2022, in the Pacific Ocean.

In the years ahead, NASA's Artemis campaign aims to launch a series of crewed missions to establish a continuous human presence on the moon with a lunar settlement on the south pole. That's where water ice thought to be abundant in the region could be extracted and used for drinking, breathing and as a source of hydrogen and oxygen for rocket fuel.

Ultimately, Artemis reflects NASA's moon-to-Mars approach to getting the first humans to the Red Planet.

The lunar settlement – which includes plans for a nuclear reactor – would serve as a base of operations to make further crewed space missions, including trips to Mars, possible.

NASA's plan appears to deviate from the vision of SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who is striving to develop the commercial rocket company's massive Starship spacecraft for private crewed trips straight from Earth to Mars.

When does Artemis II launch?

NASA officials have said that the Artemis II mission will launch no later than April 2026, taking the four astronauts on a 10-day trip circumnavigating – but not landing on – the moon.

In an update at a press conference Sept. 23, officials confirmed that not only is the mission on track for launch by April, but could potentially be moved up to February.

While no moon landing is in store for the Artemis II astronauts, the mission serves a vital role in testing the systems and hardware on the spacecraft needed for future expeditions to the lunar surface.

The first of those could happen no earlier than 2027 with the much more ambitious Artemis III mission, which will return astronauts to the surface of the moon for the first time in more than half a century.

Both the Artemis II and Artemis III missions will get off the ground from NASA's Kennedy Space Center along Florida's Space Coast near Cape Canaveral. The astronauts themselves will be aboard an Orion capsule that will hitch a ride out of Earth's atmosphere atop NASA's Space Launch System rocket, built by Boeing and Northrop Grumman.

Artemis II will be the first time that the giant, 322-foot-tall SLS rocket and the Orion capsule will fly with humans aboard.

Who are the Artemis II astronauts?

Here's a look at the four-member crew of Artemis II:

• NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman, a Baltimore native and the mission's commander who last flew to space in 2014 on a Russian Soyuz rocket to the International Space Station.
• NASA astronaut Victor Glover, the pilot from Pomona, California, who flew to space in 2020 on a SpaceX mission to the space station.
• NASA astronaut Christina Koch, a mission specialist from Grand Rapids, Michigan, who holds several space agency records and who flew in 2019 on a Soyuz ISS mission.
• Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, another mission specialist who will fly to space for the first time.

Koch and Glover represent the first woman and first African American, respectively, assigned to a NASA lunar mission. Additionally, Hansen is set to become the first Canadian to fly close to the moon, according to Reuters.

Artemis II crew names Orion capsule that will circle them around moon

The astronauts of Artemis II also revealed at the news conference that they have named the Orion capsule that will take them on their trip around the moon as "Integrity."

"The name Integrity embodies the foundation of trust, respect, candor, and humility across the crew and the many engineers, technicians, scientists, planners, and dreamers required for mission success," NASA said in a Sept. 24 blog post.

Built by Lockheed Martin, the Orion capsule the crew will pilot is due to travel about 4,700 miles beyond the far side of the moon before returning to Earth. From that vantage, the astronauts should be ble to see Earth and the moon from Integrity's windows – with our planet nearly a quarter-million miles away, according to NASA.

The planned trajectory for the four-day return journey will use Earth's gravity to  naturally pull Orion back home after flying by the moon, negating the need for propulsion or much fuel.

Contributing: Reuters

Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at [email protected]