Next Artemis missions on tap for 2027 and 2028
The Artemis II crew returned to Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday for what commander Reid Wiseman described as a day of thanking the people who helped send them on their voyage. It was the astronauts’ first visit to the Florida spaceport since their April 2026 launch atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket.
“It’s a lonely place without that rocket on it,” Wiseman said of the launch pad where the Artemis II mission began.
The three NASA astronauts and one Canadian set a new record for human distance from Earth during the lunar fly-around: 252,756 miles (406,771 kilometers). The mission was humanity’s first trip to the moon in more than half a century.
Wiseman said public enthusiasm for the mission remains high. While boarding a plane in France about a week before Wednesday’s visit, he told reporters, a woman handed him her boarding pass with a handwritten message: “Thank you for reminding us about joy and hope in the universe again.”
The crew is now preparing to hand off responsibilities to the next Artemis team. NASA announced last month the Artemis III crew: three NASA astronauts and one Italian. That mission, set for next year, will remain in orbit around Earth and practice docking with lunar landers under development by SpaceX and Blue Origin.
Artemis IV, planned as early as 2028, with a moon landing by two astronauts not yet identified, could follow.