Apollo 13's record distance from Earth has stood for over half a century. Can Artemis 2 launch in time to break it?

NASA has confirmed the upcoming milestones for its historic Artemis II mission—the first crewed flight of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft, sending four astronauts on a lunar flyby for the first time in over 50 years—with rollout and Wet Dress Rehearsal (WDR) to set the stage for a potential launch in February.

Artemis 2, NASA's next astronaut mission to the moon, is gearing up for a launch that could occur as soon as Feb. 6.

Four astronauts are about to become the first humans to venture near the moon in more than half a century since NASA's iconic Apollo era ended.

NASA says it is continuing to prepare for a possible Artemis 2 launch as soon as February, but with remarkably little publicity for the historic mission.

NASA's Artemis II mission, set to launch on Feb. 6, will send four astronauts farther from Earth than any human has traveled in decades

NASA began demolishing part of its own history over the weekend. Crews at the Marshall Space Flight Center are removing the Propulsion and Structural Test Facility and the Dynamic Test Facilities. These structures prepared the engines for the space shuttle and the Apollo moon missions.

NASA could be sending a crew on the Orion spacecraft out past the moon in less than a month if everything falls into place. But first the agency has to get its rocket to the launch pad.

SLS and the Orion spacecraft are fully stacked together inside NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at Kennedy Space Center. Once final tests are complete, the launch vehicle will be rolled out onto the pad at Launch Complex-39A, which should take about 10 hours.

The coming year's space highlights include a NASA mission that will send astronauts around the moon and a Blue Origin lunar lander mission.