The Artemis II mission is the second launch of the Artemis programme, whose aim is to land astronauts and eventually establish a long-term presence on the lunar surface. NASA Artwork: Artemis II will be the first crewed lunar mission for more than 50 yearsLakiesha Hawkins, Nasa's acting deputy associate administrator said it would be an important moment in the human exploration of space. Artemis Launch Director, Charlie Blackwell-Thompson explained that the powerful rocket system built to take the astronauts to the Moon, the Space Launch System (SLS) was "pretty much stacked and ready to go". The first Artemis mission lasted 25 days and saw the launch of an uncrewed spacecraft in November 2022. The Artemis II launch will see four astronauts go on a ten-day round trip to the Moon and back to the Earth.