The Long Road Back: Inside Artemis II’s Final Countdown

More than half a century after Apollo 17’s Gene Cernan became the last human to step off the lunar surface, NASA is days away from sending four people deeper into space than any crew since that December night in 1972. Artemis II will not land on the Moon—but what it will do is arguably more consequential: prove that America can get there with humans aboard, wring out a spacecraft named “Integrity” that has never carried a living soul through deep space, and light the runway for the lunar landing that follows. With Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, and Mission Specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen now standing on Florida’s Space Coast after more than three years of training, engineering triumphs, and at least one heart-stopping setback at the pad, the countdown is live.