NASA’s Artemis II astronauts to be announced on Tuesday: Everything we know about the mission
On Monday, April 3, NASA and the Canadian Space Agency will announce the four astronauts who will be part of the Artemis 2 mission. This mission will be the first crewed mission to test NASA's new human space exploration capabilities, including the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, Orion spacecraft, and all associated ground systems. During the 10-day-long mission, the astronauts will fly around the Moon to test and stress Orion's life-support systems to ensure that it is capable of supporting astronauts to live and work in deep space. The initial launch will be similar to the uncrewed Artemis 1 mission, and after that, the crewed Orion and the ICPS of the rocket will orbit Earth twice to ensure that all of the spacecraft's systems are working while it is still close to the Earth. The astronauts will then travel about 10,300 kilometers past the far side of the Moon before getting a "free ride" back to Earth, as the lunar free return trajectory will take advantage of the Earth-Moon gravity field to ensure that our planet's gravity will naturally pull it back. You can watch the announcement of the Artemis 2 astronauts via live stream on NASA's website at 8:30 PM IST on April 3.