BALTIMORE COUNTY, MD — On Wednesday evening, the Artemis II team successfully launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, marking a significant milestone in crewed lunar exploration.
At the helm of NASA’s first manned lunar mission in decades is Reid Wiseman, a proud Maryland native hailing from Cockeysville.
Wiseman completed his high school education at Dulaney High School in 1993, before pursuing a bachelor’s degree at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York. He further advanced his education by obtaining a master’s degree in systems engineering from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, all while serving in the U.S. Navy.
This mission will see a crew of four astronauts orbit the moon over a span of 10 days, marking the first crewed lunar mission since 1972.
The astronauts aboard include Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hanson. Although they will not land on the moon, their journey will involve a fly-by on a 685,000-mile trajectory around the moon. During this time, they will evaluate the Orion spacecraft’s life support, communication, and navigation systems, ensuring the crew’s safety and preparing for future lunar landings.
The Artemis II mission will also carry various payloads designed to collect data on space radiation, human health and behavior, and space communications, all of which will be crucial for future exploration efforts.
Artemis II: A Step Toward Mars
The Apollo program previously sent 24 astronauts to the moon across nine missions from December 1968 to December 1972. Out of these, twelve astronauts walked on the lunar surface, including Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, the first to set foot on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission.
“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” Armstrong famously declared.
As NASA transitions from the rapid lunar landings of the Apollo era to the Artemis program, the focus is now on establishing a long-term, sustainable presence on the moon, paving the way for the more challenging journey to Mars.
The Orion spacecraft will execute a translunar injection burn to escape Earth’s orbit, setting a course for the moon that will take four days. The mission will follow a figure-eight trajectory, bringing the crew around the far side of the moon, reaching over 230,000 miles from Earth, and approximately 4,600 miles beyond the moon at its furthest point.
Upon completion of the mission, Orion will undergo a high-speed reentry into Earth’s atmosphere, ultimately splashing down safely in the Pacific Ocean near San Diego. A dedicated recovery team from NASA and the Department of Defense will be on hand to retrieve both the crew and the spacecraft.
