The four astronauts who will soon become the first humans in more than half a century to fly on a lunar mission have begun the quarantine process – a crucial sign that NASA believes a launch could be imminent.
Sequestering themselves away from others for the next several days ensures that the three Americans and one Canadian selected for a mission known as Artemis 2 are at low risk of becoming sick and jeopardizing the mission. The crew members have entered quarantine in Texas as NASA makes final preparations in Florida to ready the towering rocket that will get the mission off the ground as early as February.
Artemis 2 is the second moon mission under NASA’s multibillion-dollar lunar program, and the first with humans since the vaunted Apollo era came to an end in 1972. While no lunar landing is in store for the mission, the astronauts selected for Artemis 2 will help pave the way for Americans to return to the moon under a follow-up mission in the years ahead.
Here’s everything to know about when the astronauts entered quarantine, and what’s next as NASA prepares for the Artemis 2 rocket launch.
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Who will be on the Artemis 2 mission? Astronauts enter quarantine
The Artemis II crew poses in front of an Orion simulator Jan. 23, 2026 at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
The crew of Artemis 2 – NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, and the Canadian Space Agency’s Jeremy Hansen – all entered quarantine Friday, Jan. 23, according to NASA.
Quarantining is protocol before any crewed spaceflight to ensure astronauts aren’t exposed to any illnesses that could delay an upcoming mission.
The Artemis 2 astronauts have begun the quarantine period at the Johnson Space Center in Houston before they fly to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida about six days ahead of launch – provided that all prelaunch testing goes to plan.
The astronauts will have to avoid public places, but they are by no means isolated. Friends, family and colleagues who observe certain guidelines to avoid contracting and spreading illnesses are still able to visit them.
Plenty of training and preparation also awaits the Artemis 2 astronauts in the days ahead, including mission simulations and medical checkouts.
When is the Artemis 2 rocket launch date?
The Space Launch System (SLS) is due to launch as early as Feb. 6 and as late as April 6 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, propelling the Orion capsule carrying the crew of Artemis 2 toward the moon.
While NASA has not settled on an official launch date, “beginning quarantine now preserves flexibility as teams work toward potential opportunities in the February launch period,” the agency said in a Jan. 23 blog post.
NASA prepares for wet dress rehearsal for Space Launch System rocket
A banner covered with the signatures of NASA employees and contractors is seen on the perimeter fence of Launch Complex 39B after NASA’s Artemis 2 Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft were rolled out to the launch pad at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Settling on an official launch date also won’t occur until NASA conducts what’s known as a wet dress rehearsal and a mission team completes a flight readiness review.
The prelaunch test, which could take place as early as Feb. 2, involves conducting a mock launch countdown and fueling the rocket with 700,000 gallons of cryogenic propellants that are later drained.
Ahead of the test, ground teams continue to analyze and prepare for launch both the Orion capsule and the towering Space Launch System, both of which were stacked and rolled out Jan. 17 to the launch pad. In California, teams are also finalizing plans to recover the astronauts in the Pacific Ocean, where they will make a water landing in the Orion capsule upon completion of the mission, according to NASA.
Artemis 2 won’t land on the moon, but will circle it
The astronauts won’t be making a lunar landing, but will rather circle the moon on a 10-day trip to test systems and hardware for future expeditions to the surface. The Orion capsule the crew will pilot – built by Lockheed Martin – is due to travel about 4,700 miles beyond the far side of the moon, taking its passengers the farthest humans have ever ventured in space before returning to Earth.
The mission would come more than three years after Artemis 1 launched Nov. 16, 2022, from the Kennedy Space Center, sending the Orion capsule on a moon-orbiting mission without a crew in the first test of the vehicle.
A moon landing would then take place during Artemis 3, which President Donald Trump has signaled he wants to see happen before the end of his second term.
Why is NASA interested in the moon? What to know about Artemis
NASA’s Artemis program is the agency’s ambitious campaign to return Americans to the surface of the moon for the first time since the Apollo era came to an end in 1972.
In the years ahead, NASA’s Artemis program aims to launch a series of crewed missions to establish a continuous human presence on the moon with a lunar settlement on the south pole. That’s where water ice thought to be abundant in the region could be extracted and used for drinking, breathing and as a source of hydrogen and oxygen for rocket fuel.
From there, the lunar settlement would serve as a base of operations to make the first crewed space missions to Mars possible.
Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Astronauts enter quarantine ahead of NASA’s Artemis rocket launch
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