Humanity's journey back to the moon has begun in earnest. NASA's Artemis II launched at 7:35 a.m. on the 2nd (Korea time) and is now flying along its planned trajectory.
This mission is the first crewed flight to send humans near the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972 and is meaningful in that crewed lunar exploration, which had been halted for more than half a century, has returned to reality. Until now, lunar exploration has centered on uncrewed probes, orbiters, and robots, while crewed missions remained in low Earth orbit such as the International Space Station (ISS). In that sense, Artemis II is regarded as the first operational step for humans to go beyond low Earth orbit into deep space again.
Artemis II is important not only for the symbolism of "going to the moon again." This mission is the first test to send four actual crew members into deep space aboard NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the Orion spacecraft. Previously, in 2022, Artemis I tested the basic performance of the SLS rocket and the Orion spacecraft without people. Now it has moved to the stage of verifying whether this system operates safely with people on board.
For this reason, NASA has named as top priorities for this flight the verification of life-support systems, confirmation of systems and operational procedures needed for crewed lunar flight, and checks on the ability to support crew in the deep-space environment. It will then test with the crew the entire sequence from checking a high Earth elliptical orbit and the critical burn toward the moon, to flying behind the moon, reentry, and splashdown. The mission's focus is not on lunar landing but on confirming whether people can be sent to the moon and brought back safely.
This purpose is directly reflected in the flight path. The Orion spacecraft will follow a "free-return trajectory," circling behind the moon and returning to Earth over about 10 days. A free-return trajectory is, as the name suggests, a profile designed to go to the moon and then enter an Earth-return path by using the gravity of the moon and Earth.
An Hyeong-jun, head of the Space Public Team in the System Innovation Office at the Science and Technology Policy Institute (STEPI), said, "This mission resembles Apollo 8 in that humans will travel to near the moon and return, but in reality it chose a much simpler path than complex maneuvers that repeatedly enter and exit lunar orbit," and noted, "a first crewed verification that prioritizes survivability and stability over exploration."
This is also a point of contrast with the Apollo era. While Apollo raced toward the symbolic goal of the first lunar landing in the Cold War era, the Artemis program focuses on building a sustainable exploration architecture by reducing risks step by step. The aim is not merely to go back to the moon, but to stay longer and use that experience as a springboard to reach Mars.
The fact that this mission is lunar exploration of a different era also shows in the crew composition. Artemis II carries Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). Koch is the first woman, Glover is the first person of color, and Hansen is the first Canadian to take part in a lunar mission. This shows that Artemis is a new lunar exploration framework based on international cooperation and diversity.
Meanwhile, Korea launched into space the K-RadCube CubeSat prepared by the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) and the Korea AeroSpace Administration through Artemis II. This satellite will directly observe the radiation environment inside and outside the Van Allen radiation belts around Earth to provide baseline data for analyzing how radiation in the Earth-moon transfer segment affects astronauts and electronic equipment.
Moon Hong-gyu, principal researcher at the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) Space Science Exploration Division, said, "By measuring radiation dose while also assessing its biological impact on human tissue, it can serve as baseline data for designing future astronaut sequences," and explained, "it is meaningful that Korea has entered a stage of making a practical contribution to establishing safety standards and technical norms for the era of crewed exploration."