After a long gap of more than half a century, humans are again going to set out on a historic journey towards the Moon (NASA Moon Mission 2026). American Space agency NASA has set March 6, 2026 as the target date for the launch of its ambitious manned mission Artemis-II. Under this mission, four astronauts will reach near the Moon and orbit it and return safely to Earth.
This mission is also considered special because before this, man had last traveled around the Moon in 1972 during the Apollo-17 mission. Now after 54 years, humans are once again going to reach near the Moon, which is being seen as the beginning of a new era of space exploration.
The most important pre-launch process, called “wet dress rehearsal”, has recently been successfully completed (NASA Moon Mission 2026). The test involves practicing the rocket’s entire countdown sequence and filling it with ultra-cooled liquid fuel to ensure functionality of all systems before the actual launch.
During initial testing, the problem of leakage of hydrogen gas was revealed, due to which the mission was temporarily postponed. Engineers then resolved the problem by conducting detailed technical tests and in recent testing all systems were found to be functioning normally.
For this historic mission, NASA will use its most powerful rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS). This rocket will send astronauts in the direction of the Moon in the Orion spacecraft. The main objective of this mission is to orbit the Moon and prepare to land humans on the Moon’s surface in the future.
A final flight readiness review will be conducted by the space agency before launch, which will include a thorough check of the rocket’s engines, avionics, navigation systems and life support systems. The final launch will be approved only after all technical aspects are found satisfactory.
Giving top priority to the safety of the mission, NASA has also clarified that the astronauts will soon go into “soft quarantine”. Its purpose is to ensure that their health is completely safe before the mission and any kind of infection or health risk can be avoided.
The Artemis-II mission is considered a decisive step towards future lunar missions (NASA Moon Mission 2026). The success of this mission will not only pave the way for humans to land on the lunar surface again, but will also open up new possibilities for distant space missions like Mars.