U.S. Space and Technology

NASA’s Artemis II crew is preparing for an Apollo‑8–style test flight that could launch as early as next week, rolling the SLS–Orion stack to the pad for a translunar mission in which Orion will fly a wide figure‑eight trajectory roughly 3,000–6,000 miles from the Moon — far beyond Apollo’s ~60‑mile orbits and potentially making them the most distant humans ever depending on timing. The mission includes time in low Earth orbit to validate Orion systems before translunar injection, a roughly 40‑minute communications blackout over the lunar far side, and hands‑on life‑support and manual‑control checks by astronauts who expect intensive geological work alongside moments of awe.