NASA is about to send humans on a flight around the moon [View all]

Source: WTOP

NASA is about to send humans on a flight around the moon

Michelle Basch | mbasch@wtop.com
March 27, 2026, 4:25 PM


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Four astronauts are set to blast off next week on NASA’s first human moon mission in 53 years called Artemis II.

NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, along with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, will take a 10-day trip around the moon, without landing.

“For the first time since 1972, humans will be far away from the Earth,” Noah Petro, project scientist on the first Artemis Lunar Surface Science Team told WTOP. He’s also a research scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Artemis II will be the first crewed test of NASA’s huge Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft. It was tested without a crew during the Artemis I mission in 2022.

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Michelle Basch
Michelle Basch is a reporter turned morning anchor at WTOP News.
mbasch@wtop.com
@MBaschWTOP

Read more: https://wtop.com/science/2026/03/nasa-is-about-to-send-humans-on-a-flight-around-the-moon/