Trump hypes moon mission as Artemis II prepares to lift off under pressure from past failures

President Donald Trump on Tuesday celebrated NASA’s Artemis II mission, which is set to send U.S. astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit for the first time in more than five decades.

“Tonight at 6:24 P.M. EST, for the first time in over 50 YEARS, America is going back to the Moon!,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Artemis II, among the most powerful rockets ever built, is launching our Brave Astronauts farther into Deep Space than any human has EVER gone. We are WINNING, in Space, on Earth, and everywhere in between — Economically, Militarily, and now, BEYOND THE STARS. Nobody comes close!

“America doesn’t just compete, we DOMINATE, and the whole World is watching,” he added. “God bless our incredible Astronauts, God bless NASA, and God bless the Greatest Nation ever to exist, the United States of America!”

The Artemis program was established during President Donald Trump’s first term in 2017 as part of a broader push to return American astronauts to the moon.

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Artemis II was previously targeted for an earlier launch but faced delays following technical issues identified during testing, including fuel and helium leaks that required additional repairs to the Space Launch System rocket.

The four astronauts assigned to Artemis II — Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch of the U.S., and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen — are expected to travel around the moon and back, marking the first crewed mission beyond low-Earth orbit since 1972.

While the mission will not land on the lunar surface, it is designed to carry astronauts farther from Earth than any crewed mission since the Apollo era.

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The mission is scheduled to launch from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39B aboard NASA’s Space Launch System rocket, which the agency describes as the most powerful it has ever built.

Standing about 322 feet tall, the rocket will send the Orion spacecraft and its crew into deep space for the first time, testing critical systems ahead of future lunar landing missions.

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After launch, the crew is expected to spend several days in space, including a multi-day journey around the far side of the moon before returning to Earth for a planned splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.

Artemis II follows the uncrewed Artemis I test flight and is considered a key step toward future missions, including Artemis III, which aims to land astronauts on the lunar surface.

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NASA has said the Artemis program is intended to support long-term lunar exploration and lay the groundwork for eventual human missions to Mars.

Fox News Digital’s Michael Sinkewicz contributed to this report.