The last time a human being looked back at the whole Earth from lunar distance, it was December 1972.
Apollo 17 astronauts Eugene Cernan, Harrison Schmitt, and Ron Evans were the last people to make that journey. Cernan, the mission commander, was the final human to walk on the Moon. He left his daughter's initials in the dust — TDC, for Tracy Dawn Cernan — and climbed back into the lunar module.
That was 54 years ago.
This April, humans go back.
NASA's Artemis II mission — the first crewed flight of the Space Launch System rocket and the Orion spacecraft — is targeting a launch no earlier than April 1, 2026, following confirmation that engineers have resolved a helium flow issue in the rocket. The fix keeps the mission firmly on track, with additional launch opportunities on April 3-6 and April 30 if needed.
The crew is extraordinary.
Commander Reid Wiseman, a NASA veteran, will lead the mission. Pilot Victor Glover, also NASA, will become the first person of colour to travel to the vicinity of the Moon. Mission Specialist Christina Koch will become the first woman in history to do so. And Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency will become the first non-American to travel beyond Earth orbit.
Four historic firsts. One mission. One April.
The 10-day flight plan begins near Earth, where the crew will perform hands-on tests of Orion's systems and manually test the spacecraft's handling — proving that Orion works with humans inside it before sending them further. Then the spacecraft will break free of Earth's gravity well and fly a free-return trajectory around the Moon: looping behind it, coming within roughly 8,900 kilometres of the lunar surface, and using the Moon's gravity to sling Orion back toward Earth.
No Moon landing. Not yet. That comes with Artemis III.
But this is the mission where humanity proves it can do the deep-space journey again. Where Orion is put through its paces with a crew aboard. Where the long road back to the Moon becomes, finally, a road with people on it.
The original Apollo programme sent 24 people to the Moon between 1968 and 1972. All of them were American men. The Artemis programme, from its first crewed mission, is deliberately different — reflecting the full breadth of who humanity is and who the future of space exploration belongs to.
When Artemis II launches this April, Victor Glover will see the Moon from a distance no person of colour has ever reached. Christina Koch will see it as no woman before her has. Jeremy Hansen will see it as the first Canadian to venture beyond Earth orbit.
And somewhere back on Earth, 8 billion people will know: we're going back.
After 54 years, we're finally going back. 🌕