The latest phase of the Artemis programme is underway, marking another step in American efforts to return humans to the Moon for the first time in more than five decades.

The Artemis II mission, which launched on Thursday, will focus on testing critical systems that will enable sustained lunar exploration. At the centre of the programme is the Space Launch System rocket and the Orion spacecraft, both designed to carry astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit and into deep space.

The mission builds on the success of the 2022 unmanned Artemis I mission, which demonstrated that Orion could safely travel to the Moon and return to Earth.

The four-person Artemis II mission will conduct a lunar flyby, preparation for Artemis III, which will see humans return to the Moon’s surface, scheduled for 2028.

The crew is made up of three Americans, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and one Canadian, Jeremy Hansen.

Artemis II is expected to reach the Moon on Easter Monday and will get back to Earth the following Sunday, 11 April.

The Artemis II mission is expected to set a number of records, most notably distance from the Earth. If all goes well, Artemis II is expected to reach a final distance of 7 600km from Earth, the furthest humans have ever been from our home planet.

Artemis II is also notable as this is the first time humans have left low-Earth orbit since the last Apollo mission (the last programme to take humans to the Moon) in 1972.

A key objective of the Artemis programme is not just to reach the Moon, but to establish a long-term presence. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the American space agency, alongside international and private-sector partners, is working to develop infrastructure such as the Lunar Gateway space station and surface habitats that could support repeated missions.

The stakes extend beyond scientific exploration. The programme is also seen as a strategic effort to secure leadership in a new era of space competition, particularly as other nations accelerate their own lunar ambitions.

NASA is planning to land humans on the Moon twice in 2028 as part of the next phase of the Artemis programme, while China is reportedly aiming to land humans on the satellite in 2030.

If successful, Artemis will mark a shift away from short visits to sustained activity on the Moon, laying the groundwork for missions to Mars. For now, each test and milestone brings that goal incrementally closer, as the world watches the return of human ambition to deep space.