📰 Continuing coverage: Canada’s Carney meets Artemis II crew as PM praises Hansen’s mission

NASA has set early April as the new target for the Artemis II mission, the agency announced Tuesday. The four-person crew will fly around the Moon but won’t land, testing the spacecraft’s systems ahead of a planned Moon landing with Artemis III. This marks the first crewed mission beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972, when astronauts last walked on the Moon’s surface. The Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft have completed fixes for technical issues that delayed the original November 2024 launch date. Engineers replaced faulty valves and upgraded software after discovering problems during pre-flight testing last year. NASA officials say the fixes ensure the rocket and capsule are ready for the 10-day mission, which will send the crew farther from Earth than any human has traveled before. The agency expects to finalize the exact launch date in the coming weeks as it aligns with orbital mechanics and weather conditions. The crew includes NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen. Wiseman will command the mission, Glover will pilot Orion, and Koch and Hansen will serve as mission specialists. Koch will become the first woman to fly around the Moon, while Hansen will be the first non-American to leave low Earth orbit. Their flight will test the spacecraft’s life support, navigation, and communication systems, all critical for the upcoming Artemis III lunar landing. The mission will also carry experiments to study radiation’s effects on the crew and the Moon’s environment. NASA’s Artemis program aims to establish a sustainable human presence on the Moon by the end of the decade, including a lunar base and regular crew rotations. The program uses the Space Launch System rocket, the most powerful NASA has ever built, and the Orion spacecraft, designed for deep-space missions. Artemis II follows the uncrewed Artemis I mission in 2022, which successfully tested the rocket and spacecraft during a 25-day flight around the Moon. That mission proved the heat shield survived re-entry at lunar return velocities, a key test before putting astronauts on board. The next step after Artemis II is Artemis III, currently planned for 2026. That mission will land the first woman and the next man on the Moon’s south pole, targeting areas with water ice that could support future bases. NASA is also working with SpaceX to develop a lunar lander based on its Starship rocket. The lander will carry astronauts from Orion to the Moon’s surface and back. The Artemis program’s long-term goals include using the Moon as a stepping stone for crewed missions to Mars in the 2030s. NASA sees the Moon as a testbed for technologies and operations needed for the longer journey to the Red Planet. The agency has already started planning Artemis IV and beyond, which will involve international partners like the European Space Agency, Japan, and Canada. These missions will focus on building the Lunar Gateway, a small space station orbiting the Moon that will serve as a staging point for surface missions and deep-space exploration. For now, all eyes are on Artemis II and the crew’s historic flight. The mission will prove NASA can safely send humans beyond Earth orbit again, paving the way for the next era of lunar exploration. The early April launch window keeps the agency on track for its ambitious timeline, though weather or technical issues could still cause delays.

What You Need to Know

  • Source: BBC News
  • Published: March 12, 2026 at 21:21 UTC
  • Category: Environment
  • Topics: #bbc · #environment · #climate · #science · #space · #nasa

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Curated by GlobalBR News · March 12, 2026

🇧🇷 Resumo em Português

A humanidade está prestes a viver um novo salto histórico rumo à Lua, com a NASA anunciando o lançamento da missão Artemis II para abril, após superar problemas técnicos que adiaram o cronograma. Com a data marcada, o mundo volta os olhos para o programa espacial mais ambicioso desde a era Apollo, prometendo não apenas um retorno ao satélite natural da Terra, mas também a preparação para missões tripuladas mais distantes, incluindo Marte.

A missão Artemis II chega em um momento crucial para o Brasil e os países lusófonos, que têm aumentado sua participação em projetos de exploração espacial. Além de representar um avanço tecnológico global, o programa reforça a importância da cooperação internacional na ciência e inovação — áreas em que o Brasil já tem contribuído, como na produção de componentes para foguetes e satélites. Para os falantes de português, a conquista da Lua ganha ainda mais relevância ao reacender o debate sobre o papel do Brasil e de nações emergentes no futuro da exploração espacial, especialmente diante de desafios como o financiamento e a formação de novas gerações de cientistas.

Se bem-sucedida, a Artemis II não apenas devolverá astronautas à Lua, mas também abrirá caminho para a primeira mulher e a primeira pessoa não branca a pisar no satélite, inspirando milhões ao redor do mundo.