BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — NASA’s Pegasus barge is now at the Kennedy Space Center.
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It arrived Thursday with critical components for future Artemis missions.
That includes Artemis II, which will send four astronauts on a trip around the moon for the first time since the Apollo era.
Crews will start unloading on Friday and continue into the weekend before the barge departs on Sunday.
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NASA will target for the launch of Artemis II in September 2025.
It will be about a 10-day mission around the moon with NASA astronauts Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman and Christina Hammock Koch.
They will be joined by Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen aboard the Orion spacecraft.
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“Artemis II is more than a mission to the moon and back,” Glover said. “It’s more than a mission that happens before we send people to the surface of the moon. It’s the next step on the journey that gets humanity to Mars.”
Teams have a little bit of work before the launch, including an ongoing analysis of the Orion heat shield.
Material unexpectedly chipped away during the uncrewed Artemis I flight test.
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