Artemis 2 mission: what the astronauts will do each day

Artemis 2 will carry four astronauts on a planned 10-day lunar flyby aboard the Orion spacecraft, with each day scheduled for specific activities including launches and burns, system checks, science observations, suit tests, and a planned reentry and splashdown.

NASA's Artemis 2 mission is a planned 10-day crewed flight around the moon. Four astronauts will ride aboard the Orion spacecraft to perform a human lunar flyby, the first since the early 1970s. Each day of the mission has been mapped with time-blocked activities that include maneuvers, science observations, medical checks and equipment tests. The schedule covers launch, translunar injection, lunar flyby operations and a return with atmospheric reentry and splashdown. Planned highlights: - Crew: NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremey Hansen. - Mission length and vehicle: a 10-day flight around the moon aboard the Orion spacecraft. - Launch and proximity operations: day one begins with launch on the Space Launch System, followed by engine burns, separation from the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS) and demonstration maneuvers around the spent stage. - Translunar injection: a service-module engine burn on flight day 2 places Orion on a free-return trajectory toward the moon. - Lunar flyby: on flight day 6 Orion will make its closest approach at about 4,000–6,000 miles above the lunar surface, with roughly three hours blocked for observations, imaging and geological tracking. - Return and recovery: flight day 10 includes final trajectory corrections, jettison of the service module, atmospheric reentry, parachute-assisted splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Francisco, and recovery by U.S. Navy assets. Summary: Artemis 2 is structured to test Orion systems and crew operations beyond low Earth orbit while collecting science and observational data during a free-return lunar flyby. The mission schedule includes rehearsals and demonstrations such as suit donning, exercise and radiation-shielding procedures, attitude-control tests, and relaying data to scientists before a planned reentry and splashdown in the Pacific.