{"id":275678,"date":"2025-11-21T16:00:16","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T16:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/275678\/"},"modified":"2025-11-21T16:00:16","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T16:00:16","slug":"nasas-artemis-2-moon-rocket-comes-together-photo-of-the-day-for-nov-21-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/275678\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA\u2019s Artemis 2 moon rocket comes together photo of the day for Nov. 21, 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

NASA has reached one of its key steps on the road to returning humans to the moon, as NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems team successfully lifted and integrated<\/a> the Orion spacecraft atop the Space Launch System<\/a> (SLS) rocket. The operation marks a major step toward the Artemis 2 mission<\/a>, which is set to send astronauts around the moon in early 2026.<\/p>\n

What is it?<\/p>\n

Artemis 2 represents the first time humans will travel to the moon since the Apollo 17 mission<\/a> in 1972. While it will not involve a lunar landing, Artemis 2 is critical for validating the performance of the SLS rocket, Orion spacecraft, life-support systems, and deep-space operational procedures with astronauts onboard. The spacecraft will carry NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman<\/a>, Victor Glover<\/a> and Christina Koch,<\/a> along with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen<\/a>, on what will be the first crewed mission of the Artemis program.<\/a><\/p>\n

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The mission will follow a hybrid free-return trajectory, allowing Orion to loop around the moon and head back toward Earth using gravitational forces, an important safety feature for early crewed missions. Throughout the roughly 10-day journey, the crew will conduct evaluations of life-support performance, spacecraft maneuvering, communication systems and other mission-critical functions needed for future lunar landings.<\/p>\n

Best picks for you<\/p>\n

Where is it?<\/p>\n

This image was taken at High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.<\/p>\n

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Artemis 2 will be the first crewed mission to the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972. (Image credit: NASA\/Kim Shiflett)Why is it amazing?<\/p>\n

During Artemis 2, Orion will serve as both transport and habitat for the four-person crew. The spacecraft includes advanced guidance and navigation systems, radiation protection features, state-of-the-art avionics and life-support technologies capable of sustaining astronauts through deep-space conditions. Its heat shield\u2014the largest ever built for a human spacecraft \u2014 will protect the crew during reentry at nearly 25,000 mph (40,000 kph).<\/p>\n

Artemis 2 is a foundational step toward establishing a sustained human presence on and around the moon. Its success will support future construction of the Gateway lunar orbiting platform<\/a>, development of lunar surface infrastructure and preparation for eventual crewed missions to Mars, according to NASA.<\/p>\n

Want to learn more?<\/p>\n

You can learn more about NASA’s Artemis program<\/a> and the Orion spacecraft.<\/a><\/p>\n

Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NASA has reached one of its key steps on the road to returning humans to the moon, as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":275679,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[90,416,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-275678","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-space","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=275678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275678\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/275679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}