NASA Artemis II’s Orion Crew, Service Modules Joined

The 10-day Artemis II mission is expected to begin no earlier than November 2024 and will fly NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen on the first crewed mission with the agency’s goal of establishing a long-term presence on the moon.

Prior to joining, the modules successfully completed hardware installation and testing in recent months, NASA said.

"Now that the crew and service modules are integrated, the team will power up the combined crew and service module for the first time,” NASA said. “After power-on tests are complete, Orion will begin altitude chamber testing, which will put the spacecraft through conditions as close as possible to the environment it will experience in the vacuum of deep space."

The crew completed the first part of  mission training in August, requiring it to master familiarity with Orion's interior. 

“The crew is making incredible progress getting ready for their flight as the first people to fly inside NASA’s newest spacecraft built for deep space,” Jacki Mahaffey, chief training officer for Artemis II at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, said in a statement. “Their training is preparing them to do everything from planned mission tasks and daily operations to how to recognize and deal with unexpected situations.”