NASA’s next moon mission will be like nothing you’ve ever seen

It has been more than 50 years since the last Apollo mission, and now there are only 48 hours left before NASA’s Artemis 2 manned return to the moon. The historic 10-day mission marked the first crewed launch of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft, carrying four pioneering astronauts around the moon.

In this photo story, we take a look at how the crew and rocket got ready for launch by looking back at all the hard work and challenges that occurred during the unmanned Artemis 1 foundation in 2022, through the crew’s high-pressure survival training and the complex hardware integration in 2026. The images that follow show how the world’s most powerful rocket developed and how its diverse crew prepared for a permanent human presence on the moon.