NASA's Artemis II Crew Begins Live Moon Mission Training Today
NASAs Artemis II Crew Begins Live Moon Mission Training Today...
NASA kicked off live public coverage Monday of the Artemis II astronaut crew's critical training phase, marking the last major step before America's first crewed Moon mission in over 50 years. The four astronauts—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen—are training at Johnson Space Center in Houston this week as NASA streams portions of the preparations online.
The training sessions come exactly one year before Artemis II's scheduled November 2026 launch. NASA officials confirmed the crew will practice emergency procedures, spacecraft systems operations, and simulated lunar flyby maneuvers during the televised events. Public interest surged after NASA announced the live coverage would include never-before-seen footage of next-generation spacesuit testing.
Artemis II represents the first human voyage to lunar vicinity since Apollo 17 in 1972. The 10-day mission will test the Orion spacecraft's life support systems with astronauts aboard before NASA attempts a Moon landing with Artemis III. The agency's decision to broadcast training comes amid growing congressional scrutiny over the program's $93 billion budget.
Social media engagement with #ArtemisII spiked 240% overnight as schools across the U.S. announced plans to stream the NASA broadcasts in classrooms. The crew will answer pre-submitted student questions during a live Q&A session Wednesday afternoon Central Time. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson called the public access initiative "a new era of transparency" for human spaceflight.
Technical coverage begins today at 10:30 AM EDT on NASA Television and the agency's website. The broadcast will feature the astronauts conducting pressurized suit tests inside Orion's mockup capsule. Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen told reporters Sunday that the team feels "the weight of history" as preparations intensify.
Viewership records are expected after NASA's Artemis I uncrewed test flight drew over 15 million simultaneous streams in 2022. The agency confirmed it will archive all training footage online for educational use. Meanwhile, SpaceX teams in Florida are preparing the Falcon Heavy rocket that will launch the Artemis II mission from Kennedy Space Center next year.
