Key Takeaways
- NASA is seeking volunteers to track the Artemis II Orion spacecraft during its crewed mission to the Moon, targeted for April 2026.
- The mission will include NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
- Participants can help advance commercial tracking capabilities, building on the success of the Artemis I mission where volunteers tracked an uncrewed Orion spacecraft in 2022.
NASA Calls for Volunteers for Artemis II Tracking
NASA is inviting volunteers to assist in tracking its Artemis II Orion spacecraft as it embarks on a crewed mission around the Moon and returns to Earth. This mission aims for launch no later than April 2026 and will involve NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen from the Canadian Space Agency.
The Artemis II mission will primarily rely on NASA’s Near Space Network and Deep Space Network for communications and tracking support throughout its orbit and reentry phases. To further enhance its understanding of commercial tracking capabilities, NASA is engaging the aerospace community for additional support.
This initiative builds on an earlier collaboration from the Artemis I mission, where ten volunteers successfully tracked the uncrewed Orion spacecraft in 2022. Participants in the Artemis I mission, which included a variety of organizations and individuals, used ground antennas to receive and analyze signals transmitted by Orion during its journey beyond the Moon.
Kevin Coggins, Deputy Associate Administrator for NASA’s Space Communication and Navigation (SCaN) Program, emphasized the importance of this collaboration. “By offering this opportunity to the broader aerospace community, we can identify available tracking capabilities outside the government,” Coggins stated. He noted that the data collected will inform NASA’s shift towards a commercial-first approach, ultimately enhancing the infrastructure necessary for the Artemis missions and broader Moon to Mars initiatives.
The deadline for interested volunteers to submit their responses is 5 p.m. EDT on October 27. NASA’s SCaN Program plays a critical role in managing the agency’s space communications and navigation systems, supporting over 100 missions, including those aboard the International Space Station, upcoming Artemis missions, Earth monitoring, and solar system exploration.
Artemis II is designed to validate systems and hardware required for human deep space exploration. The mission will be the first crewed flight under NASA’s Artemis campaign, serving as a crucial step toward future missions that aim to land American astronauts on the Moon and prepare for eventual crewed missions to Mars.
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