Farther from Earth than any human has ever been
For the first time in half a century, four human beings are preparing to travel farther from Earth than any living person has ever gone. Beginning this June, the Artemis II crew will spend eighteen months in rigorous preparation for a lunar flyby that is less about destination than about proving humanity still knows the way. It is a rehearsal for return — and perhaps, in the longer arc of history, a first step toward worlds beyond the moon.
- Humanity's deepest crewed journey in fifty years is now a training schedule: four astronauts report for duty in June with eighteen months standing between them and the lunar frontier.
- The stakes are compounded by the unknown — this is the first time NASA has trained a crew specifically for Artemis, meaning the astronauts themselves will help write the playbook for all lunar missions that follow.
- Every system, every emergency, every phase of flight must be mastered across two space centers, with no margin for the kind of improvisation that only experience provides — and for Jeremy Hansen, it will be his first time leaving Earth's orbit entirely.
- Artemis I already proved the hardware can survive the journey; now the question is whether four human beings can be made ready to do the same by November 2024.
- If they succeed, the door opens: a lunar landing in 2025, a sustained presence on the moon, and eventually the long road to Mars — but all of it hinges on what happens in the next year and a half.
Four astronauts — NASA's Christina Koch, Victor Glover, and Reid Wiseman, alongside Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen — will begin eighteen months of intensive training in June for Artemis II, a mission scheduled for November 2024 that will carry them within eighty miles of the lunar surface. That distance makes it the farthest any human beings will have traveled from Earth, surpassing records set during the Apollo era. The mission is not a landing, but a ten-day flyby designed as the critical dress rehearsal before NASA attempts to return humans to the moon for the first time since 1972.
The training spans two centers: Johnson Space Center in Houston, where a full Orion crew module mockup anchors most of the curriculum, and Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where the Space Launch System rocket will launch. The crew will master every operational phase of the spacecraft — ascent, orbit, coast, and reentry — while also drilling extensively on emergency procedures. Because Artemis II is the first crewed mission of its kind, lead training officer Jacki Mahaffey noted that the crew will help define how future lunar astronauts are prepared.
Three of the four have flown to the International Space Station before, but Hansen will be making his first spaceflight — and the first by a Canadian beyond low Earth orbit. Their preparation builds directly on Artemis I, last year's uncrewed test flight that validated the Orion spacecraft and its rocket around the moon and back. A successful Artemis II would clear the path for Artemis III, a potential crewed lunar landing in 2025, and lay the foundation for NASA's longer ambition: a sustained human presence on the moon and, eventually, the first crewed mission to Mars.
Four astronauts are about to step into one of the most demanding training programs in spaceflight history. In June, NASA astronauts Christina Koch, Victor Glover, and Reid Wiseman, along with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, will begin eighteen months of intensive preparation for Artemis II—a mission that will take humans closer to the moon than any crew has ventured in half a century.
The mission itself is scheduled for November 2024, and it represents a watershed moment in space exploration. Artemis II will bring the crew within eighty miles of the lunar surface, farther from Earth than any human beings have ever traveled. It is not a landing—that comes later—but a flyby that will last ten days and serve as the crucial test run before the program attempts what no one has done since 1972: put humans back on the moon.
The training will unfold across two primary locations. Most of the work happens at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, where NASA maintains a full mockup of the Orion crew module—the spacecraft that will carry them. Additional training takes place at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where the rocket itself will launch. The curriculum is comprehensive: the crew will learn to operate and monitor every system of the Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System rocket across all phases of flight—ascent, orbit, coast, and the critical reentry. They will also train extensively for emergencies, running through scenarios designed to test their judgment and reflexes when things go wrong.
This is new territory for NASA's training apparatus. Jacki Mahaffey, the lead training officer for the crew, emphasized that because this is the first time the agency has prepared astronauts specifically for Artemis missions, the four crew members will help shape how future lunar training is designed. Three of them—Koch, Glover, and Wiseman—have already spent time in space aboard the International Space Station. Hansen, the Canadian, will be flying to space for the first time, making him the first Canadian to venture beyond low Earth orbit.
The groundwork for Artemis II was laid by Artemis I, an uncrewed test flight last year that sent the Orion spacecraft and the new Space Launch System rocket around the moon and back. That mission validated the hardware and the approach. Now the crew will study that flight closely, learning from every detail of how the systems performed.
Success in November 2024 will unlock the next phase. Artemis III, possibly arriving in 2025, will attempt the first crewed lunar landing in more than fifty years. Beyond that, NASA's ambitions extend further still: establishing a sustained human presence on the moon, and eventually using it as a staging ground for the first crewed mission to Mars. For now, though, the focus is narrow and urgent. Four people are about to spend the next year and a half preparing to go farther from home than anyone alive has ever gone.
Notable Quotes
We're building a robust training plan for the crew to ensure they're ready for every aspect of this first mission to the moon under Artemis on our newest spacecraft and rocket.— Jacki Mahaffey, lead training officer for Artemis II
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does training take eighteen months for a ten-day mission?
Because they're flying hardware that's never carried humans before, to a place no one has been in fifty years. Every system has to be second nature—not just understood, but muscle memory. If something breaks at eighty miles from the moon, there's no calling for help.
What makes this different from training for the Space Station?
The Space Station is nearby. If something goes wrong, you can come home in hours. Artemis II puts you farther from Earth than any human has ever been. The margin for error shrinks. The training has to account for that isolation.
Why is Hansen's participation significant?
He's the first Canadian to go beyond Earth orbit. But more than that—he's flying on a spacecraft no one has flown on yet. The other three have spaceflight experience. He's stepping into the unknown without that reference point.
What happens if the training reveals problems with the spacecraft?
That's partly why they're doing this now. Artemis I was uncrewed—it proved the rocket and capsule work. Now humans will train on them, and if something needs fixing, there's time before launch.
Is this the actual moon landing?
No. This is the approach. They'll get close enough to see it in detail, but they won't touch down. That's Artemis III, the mission after this one. This one is about proving humans can survive the journey.
What's the real goal underneath all of this?
Mars. The moon is the proving ground. If NASA can sustain human presence there, they learn how to do it on Mars. Artemis II is the first step in a much longer journey.