Artemis 2’s Orion capsule goes into altitude chamber to prep for 2025 moon mission (photo)

A moon spacecraft is one step closer to flying with humans on board in 2025.

The Orion spacecraft, which will carry four astronauts around the moon on the Artemis 2 mission, recently reentered an altitude chamber at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Orion, which is built by aerospace giant Lockheed Martin, will do more testing in space-like conditions to ensure it is ready for liftoff, NASA officials stated on Tuesday (Nov. 12). That mission could occur as soon as September 2025.

The Artemis 2 astronauts are NASA commander Reid Wiseman, NASA pilot Victor Glover (who will become the first Black person to leave low Earth orbit, or LEO), NASA mission specialist Christina Koch (the first woman to do so) and Canadian Space Agency (CSA) mission specialist Jeremy Hansen (the first non-American).

Related: Artemis 2 astronauts simulated a day in the life on their moon mission. Here’s what they learned (exclusive)

The quartet will be the first people to fly to lunar realms since the three astronauts of Apollo 17 in 1972, which landed on the moon. Artemis 2’s mission calls for Orion to loop around the moon to prepare for future landings, but not to touch down itself.

Artemis 2 was initially slotted for a December 2024 liftoff, but that schedule was delayed in January 2024. NASA said several engineering issues needed to be resolved, most especially with the heat shield of the Orion spacecraft. It’s a developmental mission, however, so the schedule is always subject to changes as the hardware matures.

Artemis 2 will be the first NASA-led Artemis program mission with humans on board. The uncrewed Artemis 1 flew to lunar orbit and back in 2022. NASA plans a long-term presence on the moon starting with Artemis 3, which will lift off in 2026 or so and use SpaceX‘s Starship spacecraft to touch down.

For now, NASA is expected to use its Space Launch System megarocket for all Artemis missions, but space policy under the incoming Donald Trump presidential administration — which includes high-level advice from SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk — may change the moon rocket to SpaceX’s Starship. Starship is under development, with five test flights under its belt so far. The sixth is scheduled for Nov. 18.

Elizabeth Howell (she/her), Ph.D., is a staff writer in the spaceflight channel since 2022 covering diversity, education and gaming as well. She was contributing writer for Space.com for 10 years before joining full-time. Elizabeth’s reporting includes multiple exclusives with the White House and Office of the Vice-President of the United States, an exclusive conversation with aspiring space tourist (and NSYNC bassist) Lance Bass, speaking several times with the International Space Station, witnessing five human spaceflight launches on two continents, flying parabolic, working inside a spacesuit, and participating in a simulated Mars mission. Her latest book, “Why Am I Taller?”, is co-written with astronaut Dave Williams. Elizabeth holds a Ph.D. and M.Sc. in Space Studies from the University of North Dakota, a Bachelor of Journalism from Canada’s Carleton University and a Bachelor of History from Canada’s Athabasca University. Elizabeth is also a post-secondary instructor in communications and science at several institutions since 2015; her experience includes developing and teaching an astronomy course at Canada’s Algonquin College (with Indigenous content as well) to more than 1,000 students since 2020. Elizabeth first got interested in space after watching the movie Apollo 13 in 1996, and still wants to be an astronaut someday. Mastodon: https://qoto.org/@howellspace