ARTEMIS &
NEXT-GEN FLIGHT
ARTEMIS &NEXT-GEN FLIGHT

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Orion Spacecraft

The machine behind the mission

Orion Spacecraft

  • First flight 2014
  • Crewed around the Moon in 2026
  • Launches from Pad 39B

A crew module up front, a European-built service module and four solar wings behind. Orion is built to carry people farther than any spacecraft before it — and bring them home at nearly 25,000 mph. It rides to space atop SLS from the Space Coast.

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THE RETURN TRIP

Artemis is the return trip fifty years in the making — built to stay, not visit. In 2026 Artemis II carried four astronauts around the Moon and home again.

THE NEW FLEET

SLS stands in the Saturn V's weight class, with Orion the only deep-space-rated capsule. Ahead: south-pole landers, a permanent surface base, and the first bootprints in half a century.

A COUNTDOWN THAT NEVER STOPPED

The Moon is the proving ground; Mars is on the checklist. Our Artemis collection is for the generation that will watch the first person walk on another planet.

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SHOWING 5 OUT OF 5 PRODUCTS
Artemis I press kit - November 2022

Artemis, by the numbers

Engine positionsARTEMIS GUIDE
RS-25 engine positions
11 FLIGHTSENGINE 2045 - STS-89 TO STS-135

All four engines were Space Shuttle veterans. Engine 2045 had flown eleven missions, including the last one.

RS-25 engine positions

Liftoff thrust - SLS Block 1
8.8M LB
Four RS-25s and two five-segment boosters
16 NOV 2022 - 1:47 AM EST
KSC - LAUNCH COMPLEX 39B
Core stageSLS GUIDE
Core stage major components
537,000 GALLIQUID HYDROGEN

Ten barrels, four domes and seven rings, welded at Michoud into a stage 212 feet tall.

Core stage major components

Farthest - Artemis I
268,563 MI
From Earth: the farthest a human-rated spacecraft has flown
28 NOV 2022
ORION - FLIGHT DAY 13
Max Q00:01:10
1,045 mph
SRB sep00:02:12
158,000 ft
MECO00:08:20
17,430 mph
ARTEMIS I - ASCENT
Checked - Max Q
Brush Mark 200 - 25 mm/minMET 00:00 - 00:09CH 1 - VELOCITY - CH 2 - ALTITUDE
DID YOU KNOW?
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
ARTEMIS PROGRAM

MISSION TELEMETRY - ARTEMIS

SPACE LAUNCH SYSTEM - ORION - ARTEMIS I AND II FLOWN - III AND IV AS NOW PLANNED
PRINTOUT - RUN 002

The printout for the return. Artemis I flew the ship empty in 2022; Artemis II took four people around the far side of the Moon in April 2026, farther from Earth than anyone has ever been. In early 2026 the plan for what comes next was rewritten.

MISSION CONTROL CENTER
HOUSTON, TEXAS
REPRINTED FOR CAPE KENNEDY CLOTHING
Artie RedstoneFlight Director
Max QCAPCOM
Turn the page →
MCC-H

SLS GuideTHE CORE STAGE

ARTEMIS
THE CORE STAGE
Tap the drawing to enlarge

The tallest part of the rocket, drawn apart. Ten barrel sections, four domes and seven rings, friction-stir welded at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans into a stage 212 feet tall and 27.6 feet across, carrying 537,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen and 196,000 gallons of liquid oxygen.

  1. 1Forward skirt - houses the stage's flight computers and avionics.
  2. 2Liquid oxygen tank - 196,000 gallons.
  3. 3Intertank - the stiff ring that takes the boosters' thrust.
  4. 4Liquid hydrogen tank - 537,000 gallons, the biggest piece: five barrels, two rings, two domes.
  5. 5Engine section - the boat tail where the four RS-25s mount.
  6. 6RS-25 engines (4).
Core stage
Height212 ft
Diameter27.6 ft
LH2537,000 gal
LOX196,000 gal
Built byBoeing, Michoud
Burn timeabout 480 s

Source: Space Launch System Reference Guide, NASA, 2022.

MissionARTEMIS II
EditionRUN 002
DateAPR 1 - 10, 2026
TimeL-0
Day/Rev-
Page36
NASA JSC - MISSION OPERATIONSARTEMIS FLIGHT CONTROL
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DID YOU KNOW?ARTEMIS NOTES

ARTEMIS

The Far South

Artemis IV, planned for 2028, is aimed at the lunar South Pole — terrain no human has ever visited, where water ice hides in permanently shadowed craters.

Landing moved from III to IV, February 2026

The Manikin Crew

Artemis I flew instrumented manikins wired with thousands of radiation sensors — crash-test pioneers for the crews to come.

Campos, Helga and Zohar

Four Around the Moon

In April 2026, Artemis II carried four astronauts around the far side of the Moon — humanity's first crewed lunar voyage since 1972.

April 1 - 10, 2026

Change of Plans

In February and March 2026 NASA rewrote the program: Artemis III became a two-week Earth-orbit rehearsal with the new landers and suits, the landing moved to Artemis IV, and the orbiting Gateway station was paused in favor of a surface base.

Surface base: a seven-year program from 2028
MissionARTEMIS II
EditionRUN 002
DateAPR 1 - 10, 2026
Time
Day/Rev-
Page0001
NASA JSC - MISSION OPERATIONSARTEMIS FLIGHT CONTROL
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Artemis GuideENGINE POSITIONS

ARTEMIS
ENGINE POSITIONS
Tap the drawing to enlarge

Looking up at the base of the rocket. The four RS-25s that flew Artemis I were all Space Shuttle veterans, refurbished and given new controllers. Engine 2045 alone had flown eleven shuttle missions; 2045 and 2060 were both on the final one, STS-135, in 2011.

  1. 1Engine 2045 - position 1. Eleven shuttle flights, STS-89 to STS-135.
  2. 2Engine 2060 - position 4. Three shuttle flights, all in the last two years of the program.
  3. 3Engine 2056 - position 2. Flew STS-104, 109, 114 and 121.
  4. 4Engine 2058 - position 3. Six shuttle flights, mostly station assembly.
  5. 5Left solid rocket booster.
  6. 6Right solid rocket booster.
RS-25
Engines4
Thrust, sea level418,000 lb each
Thrust, vacuum512,300 lb at 109 pct
Prior shuttle flights24 between them
PropellantsLH2 / LOX

Source: Artemis Reference Guide, NASA, 2022. Engine histories: SLS Reference Guide, 2022.

MissionARTEMIS II
EditionRUN 002
DateAPR 1 - 10, 2026
TimeL-0
Day/Rev-
Page11
NASA JSC - MISSION OPERATIONSARTEMIS FLIGHT CONTROL
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Section VIFLIGHTS OF RECORD

ARTEMIS

The new generation, in order.

FlightDateCrewDurationEvent
Demo-2 30 May - 2 Aug 2020 Hurley / Behnken 63d First crewed Crew Dragon - launches from U.S. soil again after nine years
Crew-1 15 Nov 2020 - 2 May 2021 Hopkins / Glover / Walker / Noguchi 167d First operational commercial crew rotation to the station
Artemis I 16 Nov - 11 Dec 2022 Uncrewed - manikins Campos, Helga, Zohar 25d 10h First SLS, first Orion to the Moon; 1.4 million miles; 268,563 miles out
Boeing CFT 5 Jun 2024 - 7 Sep 2024 Wilmore / Williams 93d (uncrewed return) Starliner's first crew; came home empty. Wilmore and Williams flew back on Crew-9 in March 2025
Artemis II 1 - 10 Apr 2026 Wiseman / Glover / Koch / Hansen 9d 1h First crew to the Moon since 1972; 252,756 miles from Earth, a new record
Artemis III Mid-2027 (planned) Bresnik / Parmitano / Rubio / Douglas approx 14d Redefined March 2026: a low-Earth-orbit shakedown at 230 nautical miles. Orion docks with one or both of the Starship and Blue Moon landers and tests the Axiom moon suits
Artemis IV NET 2028 (planned) TBD - The first landing since 1972, aimed at the lunar south pole, on a commercial lander. NASA is aiming for two landings in 2028 and one a year after that

Artemis IV, not III, is now the first landing since 1972: no earlier than 2028, on a commercial lander, with the south pole still the goal.

MissionARTEMIS II
EditionRUN 002
DateAPR 1 - 10, 2026
Time2020 - 2028
Day/Rev-
Page0002
NASA JSC - MISSION OPERATIONSARTEMIS FLIGHT CONTROL
MCC-H

Artemis GuideWHERE THE BRAINS ARE

ARTEMIS
WHERE THE BRAINS ARE
Tap the drawing to enlarge

SLS thinks in several places at once. The core stage's flight computers sit in the forward skirt; each booster carries its own avionics; the upper stage has its own; and controllers mounted on the engines throttle and steer them. Every box shown here had to work for eight minutes and then never again.

  1. 1Booster avionics - one set in each solid rocket booster.
  2. 2Core stage avionics - flight computers, command and telemetry, inertial navigation.
  3. 3ICPS avionics - the upper stage that sent Orion to the Moon.
  4. 4Stage adapter - two cameras for the upper stage separation.
  5. 5Engine section - propulsion valves and thrust vector control.
  6. 6Engine controllers - one on each RS-25.
Avionics
Flight computerscore stage forward skirt
Booster avionics2 sets
Upper stageICPS
Engine controllers4

Source: Artemis Reference Guide, NASA, 2022.

MissionARTEMIS II
EditionRUN 002
DateAPR 1 - 10, 2026
TimeL-0
Day/Rev-
Page16
NASA JSC - MISSION OPERATIONSARTEMIS FLIGHT CONTROL
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Artemis GuideSEVEN WELDS

ARTEMIS
SEVEN WELDS
Tap the drawing to enlarge

The room the crew lives in. Orion's pressure vessel is seven aluminum-alloy pieces friction-stir welded together - tunnel, forward bulkhead, three cone panels, barrel and aft bulkhead. The first design needed 33 welds; cutting to seven saved about 700 pounds.

  1. 1Tunnel - the docking passage at the top.
  2. 2Forward bulkhead.
  3. 3Three cone panels - the sloped walls of the capsule.
  4. 4Barrel - the band where the windows and hatch go.
  5. 5Aft bulkhead - the floor, under the heat shield.
Pressure vessel
Pieces7
Welds, first design33
Mass savedabout 700 lb
Methodfriction-stir welding
Crewup to 4

Source: Artemis Reference Guide, NASA, 2022.

MissionARTEMIS II
EditionRUN 002
DateAPR 1 - 10, 2026
TimeTLI
Day/Rev-
Page31
NASA JSC - MISSION OPERATIONSARTEMIS FLIGHT CONTROL
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Section IVARTEMIS II - FLIGHT SEQUENCE

ARTEMIS

April 1 - 10, 2026

Tick through the flight that beat Apollo 13's distance record.

Tap a box to check it off

Items complete 0/9SPLASHDOWN
MissionARTEMIS II
EditionRUN 002
DateAPR 1 - 10, 2026
TimeAPR 1 - 10, 2026
Day/Rev-
Page0003
NASA JSC - MISSION OPERATIONSARTEMIS FLIGHT CONTROL
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Section IACRONYMS - ARTEMIS

ARTEMIS
SLSSpace Launch System - the Artemis rocket, 322 feet tall, 8.8 million pounds of thrust
OrionThe crew capsule - four seats, built by Lockheed Martin, with a European service module
ESMEuropean Service Module - power, propulsion and air for Orion, built by ESA
ICPSInterim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage - the upper stage that sent Artemis I and II to the Moon
TLITranslunar Injection - the burn out of Earth orbit
LASLaunch Abort System - the tower on top, to pull Orion clear of a failing rocket
HLSHuman Landing System - the commercial landers, SpaceX Starship HLS and Blue Origin Blue Moon; one or both to be tried with Orion on Artemis III
AxEMUAxiom Space's lunar spacesuit - gets its first flight test on Artemis III
LC-39BThe Artemis pad - Apollo 10 and the Shuttle flew from it too
Crew DragonSpaceX's capsule - flying crews to the station since 2020
StarlinerBoeing's capsule - one crewed test flight, 2024
DSNDeep Space Network - how Orion talks to Houston beyond Earth orbit
MissionARTEMIS II
EditionRUN 002
DateAPR 1 - 10, 2026
Time-
Day/Rev-
Page0004
NASA JSC - MISSION OPERATIONSARTEMIS FLIGHT CONTROL

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