For the first time in half a century, a man will go to the moon. What you need to know

In early April, for the first time in 54 years, a manned spacecraft will go to the moon. Three astronauts from the United States and one from Canada will fly around the Earth's satellite as part of the ten-day Artemis-2 mission. They will test the Orion spacecraft, and if successful, this will make it possible to land people on the surface of a celestial body in the coming years. What the new lunar journey will be like is in the Izvestia article.

What is the mission of Artemis-2?

• The Artemis 2 mission is an integral part of the Artemis lunar program, which was launched in 2017 by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). This is the first program in almost half a century in which people will fly to the moon and land on it. Its ultimate goal is to create a permanent base on the Earth's natural satellite.

• All previous human flights to the moon took place as part of the American Apollo program. In 1968, the crew of the Apollo 8 spacecraft became the first to reach lunar orbit. His flight paved the way for all subsequent six landings on the surface, which took place from 1969 to 1972. Since then, the moon race has been conducted without direct human involvement. Several countries launched their lunar vehicles and studied the nature of the satellite, but no cosmonaut was able to approach the Moon anymore.

• The first Artemis mission took place in 2022. It was an unmanned flight of the Orion spacecraft on a Space Launch System (SLS) launch vehicle, which lasted 25 days. During this time, Orion managed to move away from Earth by a distance of 432,000 km, which became a record for spacecraft designed to transport astronauts. The spacecraft also approached the Moon at a distance of only 128 km, after which it was able to successfully return to Earth.

• Artemis-2 will conditionally repeat the previous stage of the program, only now there will be four astronauts on board Orion. In this sense, it will be similar to the Apollo 8 mission, but it will have a significant difference. The first flight to the Moon in a long time does not involve entering its orbit in order to reduce the risk of emergency situations and guarantee the return of the crew to Earth. The main focus will be on testing life support systems that will be needed for subsequent manned missions.

Who will fly to the moon

• The crew of Artemis 2 was determined in April 2023. For the first time, four astronauts were selected for flights to the Moon, rather than three, as it was during the Apollo program flights. The crew consisted of Commander Reed Winesman, pilot Victor Glover and two specialists Kristina Koch and Jeremy Hansen. Their understudies are Jenny Gibbons and Andre Douglas.

• In case of a successful flight, this crew will set a number of achievements. Glover will be the first black astronaut to fly to the moon, Koch will be the first woman, and Canadian Hansen will be the first non—American. Hansen is about to make his first space flight. Prior to that, he worked as a communications operator for the International Space Station at NASA's Mission Control Center.

• The rest of the crew members already have space launch experience. Winesman flew on the Soyuz spacecraft, was a flight engineer on the ISS and twice went into outer space, spending almost 13 hours in it. Glover was also a member of the ISS expedition and was a member of the first crew to travel to the station on the Crew Dragon spacecraft. Before becoming an astronaut, Koch was engaged in polar research and wintered in Antarctica. As an astronaut, she set a record for continuous stay in space among women, having spent 328 days on the ISS.

Preparing for the flight

• The Artemis-2 flight was repeatedly postponed due to technical reasons. As a result, it was decided that the flight would take place between February 6 and April 6. This time is best suited for the far side of the moon to be as illuminated as possible, and for the crew to return to Earth as close to the United States as possible.

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• The first flight preparation cycle took place back in February. However, first, during refueling training, a hydrogen leak was detected in the central stage of the SLS rocket, and then a problem arose with the supply of helium in the upper stage. The rocket had to be returned to the vertical assembly building. Before each attempt to launch the mission, the crew had to be quarantined for two weeks. Now it is planned that the rocket launch will take place on April 1 or later.

The political background of the mission

• The successful completion of the mission will resume with renewed vigor the lunar race, initiated by US President Donald Trump. It was he who in 2017 signed the NASA directive on the return of humans to the Moon for the subsequent exploration of Mars, and during the 2020 election campaign promised to complete the lunar missions. However, the Artemis program achieved its first successes already under his successor Joe Biden, who also supported the return of astronauts to the moon.

• After Trump's return to the White House, further implementation of the program almost stopped. He stopped ardently supporting flights to the moon and for almost a year could not appoint a permanent NASA administrator. Trump's entourage began calling for cuts in the cost of the space agency and the limitation of the Artemis program, reducing it to one landing on the moon. During the 2025 shutdown, NASA saw massive layoffs among engineering and technical staff, which threatened to shut down the entire organization.

However, with the appointment of Jared Isaacman as head of NASA in December 2025, the situation changed, and Artemis received the necessary funding. It is believed that one of the reasons why the White House decided to support flights to the moon was the active development of China's lunar program. Beijing plans to make its own flyby of the Moon in 2028, and then land a manned spacecraft on its surface. NASA expects to make the first human landing on the Moon in half a century as part of the Artemis 4 mission in 2028, at the very end of Trump's second term.