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The astronauts on NASA\u2019s Artemis II mission will see more of the Moon\u2019s far side by eye than any human has before.Credit: NASA\/JPL<\/p>\n
If all goes to plan, as soon as tomorrow, NASA will launch four people on a journey around the Moon. The mission, known as Artemis II, would be the first time humans have left Earth\u2019s protective environment and travelled into deep space since the US Apollo programme, which ended more than half a century ago. And it could carry its astronauts farther from Earth than any humans have ever travelled.<\/p>\n
Artemis II is one in a series of missions<\/a> that ultimately aim to build humanity\u2019s first permanent base on the Moon. This mission is supposed to test the rocket, crew capsule and other space-flight hardware that NASA wants to use to land humans on the lunar surface in the coming years. During their nearly ten-day journey to the Moon and back, astronauts plan to run experiments that will set the stage for future explorers.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we\u2019re trying to do is not pick up where Apollo left off, but to use our decades of experience and knowledge and planning to do this sustainable presence on the Moon \u2014 and then to do science alongside of that,\u201d says Barbara Cohen, a planetary scientist at NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.<\/p>\n The four Artemis II astronauts did a dress rehearsal in December for what will happen on launch day. Clockwise from front left are pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Jeremy Hansen, mission specialist Christina Koch and commander Reid Wiseman.Credit: Gregg Newton\/AFP via Getty<\/p>\n Some of the key experiments that will be conducted during the Artemis II mission will explore how deep-space travel affects human health. Other research will rely on the astronauts\u2019 ability to see geological features on parts of the Moon that have never been viewed by human eyes.<\/p>\n Cohen says the science findings from Artemis II will be fundamentally different from discoveries made previously by robots exploring the Solar System. \u201cThe amazing part of having crews is they have brains and eyes, and the capacity for thought and reaction,\u201d so that they can \u201ctake the path of knowledge that is best for science\u201d, she says.<\/p>\n The four astronauts who will fly aboard Artemis II have been through extensive science training, including field trips to sites in Canada and Iceland that are similar to the Moon\u2019s otherworldly surface. One of the crew, Christina Koch, built space-science instruments before becoming an astronaut and has worked as a scientific field engineer in Antarctica and Greenland. Another, Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, has a master\u2019s degree in physics and worked in the underwater Aquarius laboratory off the coast of Florida.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re excited about what the astronauts find interesting and what pulls their focus,\u201d says Nicola Fox, head of NASA\u2019s science mission directorate in Washington DC. \u201cThat is an incredible opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Cells in space<\/p>\n One big focus for Artemis II will be to study how deep space affects human health<\/a>. Studies of astronauts on short-duration space flights or in low Earth orbit on space stations have shown that space travel can raise the risk of cancer and induce vision problems<\/a>, among other issues. Even the private space mission Inspiration4, which launched in 2021 and carried a crew led by Jared Isaacman \u2014 who is now the head of NASA \u2014 discovered health changes in the short, three-day spaceflight. The crew\u2019s telomeres1<\/a>, which are the protective ends of chromosomes, changed lengths.<\/p>\n But the Artemis II crew will be the first humans to expose their bodies to the deep-space radiation outside of Earth\u2019s protective magnetic field since the final Apollo mission ended in 1972. Radiation sensors placed throughout their capsule\u2019s cabin will measure exposure during the flight. And the astronauts will give saliva and blood samples before and after the mission, which researchers will check for alterations to the immune and other bodily systems.<\/p>\n But perhaps the most cutting-edge human-health study that will be conducted during Artemis II is an \u2018organ on a chip\u2019 experiment. For this, researchers asked each of the astronauts to donate platelets from blood before the space flight. From those donations, scientists extracted, isolated and froze immature bone marrow cells, which naturally circulate in people\u2019s bloodstreams. Just before launch, the researchers plan to thaw and place the cells onto two chips, about the size of a USB drive, for each astronaut. One chip will fly aboard Artemis II, and the other will remain on Earth for the mission\u2019s duration.<\/p>\n Researchers will place cells from each Artemis II astronaut onto an \u2018organ on a chip\u2019 to test their reaction to deep-space radiation during the flight.Credit: Emulate\/NASA<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/d41586-026-00964-4_52221348.jpg\"\/)
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