Artemis II: The first human mission to the moon in 54 years launches soon — with a Canadian on board

The crew of the new NASA moon rocket Artemis II at the Kennedy Space Center, including Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency, on the far right. From left: Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch. (NASA)

It’s been 54 years since the last Apollo mission, and since then, humans have not ventured beyond low-Earth orbit. But that’s all about to change with next week’s launch of the Artemis II mission from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

This is the first crewed flight of NASA’s Artemis program and the first time since 1972 that humans have ventured to the moon. Onboard is Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, who will be the first non-American to fly to the moon and will make Canada only the second country in the world to send an astronaut into deep space.