WASHINGTON (April 6, 2026) – Last Wednesday, NASA launched the Artemis II mission, marking it as the first crewed flight to the Moon’s vicinity since the Apollo program in 1972. Although the Artemis II will not land on the Moon, the mission will send astronauts around the planet to test if the spacecraft can safely sustain a crew for future space exploration.
If the mission goes as planned, the capsule will reach the moon near April 6, the sixth day of the mission. The Artemis II is a key step in NASA’s broader Artemis program, which aims to establish human presence on the Moon. NASA’s next launch is currently scheduled for 2027 and will involve the Orion spacecraft docking in Earth’s orbit.
GW experts are available for analysis on these developments.
For more analysis on these developments, please consider Scott Pace, Professor of the Practice of International Affairs, Director of the Space Policy Institute, and Director of the Institute for International Science and Technology Policy at GW’s Elliott School of International Affairs. Pace is an expert in civil, commercial, and national security space policy, analysis and assessment of space projects and programs, international space cooperation and competition; global navigation satellite systems, and international and domestic spectrum management. Pace served as Deputy Assistant to the President and Executive Secretary of the National Space Council from 2017-2020.
John Logsdon is Professor Emeritus at the GW Elliott School of International Affairs, where he was the founder and long-time director of GW’s Space Policy Institute. Logsdon's research interests focus on the policy and historical aspects of U.S. and international space activities. Logsdon is a member of the Board of Directors of the Planetary Society. In 2003, he was a member of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board, and formerly was a member of the NASA Advisory Council.
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