Artemis II

Futurism tells us Moon Astronauts Enter Quarantine for Launch:

The agency’s Artemis 2 mission will see a crew of four astronauts travel far beyond the dark side of the Earth’s natural satellite, reaching the farthest point that humans have ever traveled from Earth.

After a lot of delays and budget overruns, Artemis II is supposed to take off Not Earlier Than (NET) 6 February, to send a crew to the moon and back on a free return trajectory, something Artemis I did uncrewed in 2022.

This “Quarantine” mean that the team prepare to not get sick so they can travel to space. It’s not isolation, it is just taking more precautions. Back in 1970, the ill fated Apollo 13 mission saw the Command Module pilot Ken Mattingly being replaced by Jack Swigert after his exposure to rubella.

This is a sign that for now the mission is on schedule after they raised the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion capsule at Launch Complex 39B, the same that was used to launch Saturn V, the Shuttle, and later adapted for and launched uncrewed Artemis I.

Artemis III is supposed to be a Moon landing mission and is planned NET mid-2027. However the uncertainty of Starship HLS readiness made NASA calling for a bid for a substitution lander in October 2025, and this really could delay the landing on the Moon South pole.