NASA has reinvigorated the race to put man on the Moon, nearly half a century after its historic Apollo missions. The agency announced that the spacecraft set to ferry a crew of four around the Moon has been named Integrity, and the mission is eyeing a launch in February next year. The agency is targeting a lift-off on February 5, though the exact date might vary. Lakiesha Hawkins, acting deputy associate administrator for NASA's Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate (ESDMD), mentioned during a press conference that the safety of the crew is a top priority at the agency, but added it is making preparations to hit its intended lift-off target.
The mission is expected to be a monumental feat. "We together have a front row seat to history. We're returning to the moon after over 50 years," said Hawkins. The first stage of the Artemis program, which concluded in 2022, marked the first flight test of NASA's Deep Space Exploration Systems: the Orion spacecraft and the massive Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. It was an uncrewed mission, but with the Artemis II mission, four astronauts will embark on a journey around the Moon. The overarching goal of the second stage is to prove that the exploration system is ready to take humans to the Moon, Mars, and beyond for deep manned exploration. "Their mission will be to confirm all of the spacecraft's systems operate as designed with crew aboard in the actual environment of deep space," says the agency