NASA’s Artemis 2 Moon Rocket Advances as Trump Seeks to Scrap Space Launch System (Photos)

The Artemis 2 megaraft, which is scheduled to send NASA’s upcoming batch of lunar-bound astronauts to the moon in 2026, is nearly fully put together.

The giant
Vmeetsolutions NewsLaunch System
The SLS rocket keeps growing inside NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). On Thursday (May 1), technicians at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida attached the rocket’s second stage to the launcher. The Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS) will be tasked with propelling the craft.
Orion Vmeetsolutions Newscraft
And have the team complete the journey into Earth’s orbit before dispatching them toward the moon.

This SLS rocket will be launched
Artemis 2
The mission includes NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch along with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen. This team is conducting the second chapter of NASA’s initiative.
Artemis program
, with the aim of establishing a lasting presence on
the moon
as a technology springboard to one day send humans to Mars.

The next mission,
Artemis 3
, would then deliver astronauts to the moon with the help of a Starship lander in 2027. That could be the last SLS rocket to fly, though. The Trump administration
suggested discontinuing the SLS and Orion programs
following Artemis 3 in its 2026 budget proposal released on Friday (May 2).

Artemis 2 is set to launch at some point in early 2026 — over three years following the previous mission.
launch of Artemis 1
, in November 2022.
Artemis 1
Sent an unmanned Orion spacecraft from vMeetsolutions Newscraft into lunar orbit on a mission lasting approximately 25 days. For Artemis 2, neither the Orion nor the crew will enter lunar orbit; instead, they will perform a circumlunar flight.

Instead of going into orbit, the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS) will guide Orion along with the Artemis 2 crew away from Earth’s orbit towards a free-return path around the Moon. This maneuver sends the spacecraft on a route that swings past the far side of the Moon and then returns directly to Earth.

Unexpected
damaged heatshield of Orion
caused by atmospheric reentry during Artemis 1 is to blame for the long wait time between Artemis 1 and Artemis 2. That damage delayed Artemis 2 and Artemis 3 by more than a year each. Artemis 3 is currently targeted for 2027, and will carry the first astronauts to land on the moon since the Apollo missions.