Artemis II will carry astronauts beyond the moon using a free-return path and new spacecraft systems, marking a different approach from Apollo missions, according to NASA and Space.com.

The shift from Apollo to Artemis is not just about naming—it captures a deeper transition from a race to reach the Moon to a plan to stay and build beyond it

The Artemis II mission will take astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit for the first time in 50 years. This next era of the U.S. space program marks a step toward building a permanent presence in outer space.

The countdown has begun, for the first time in more than 50 years, NASA is launching a lunar mission in preparation for humans landing on the moon once again. The Artemis II is scheduled to launch Wednesday,

The Artemis II cannot land on the moon due to the spacecraft having no landing capabilities, according to Space.com. That goal is being saved for the eventual Artemis 4 mission. The specific objective of the Artemis II mission is to check out Orion’s systems and learn how to live and work on another world in preparation for human missions to Mars.

People may know Artemis as NASA’s return-to-the-Moon program. However, it is much more than a rerun of Project Apollo.