Mark Kelly on Artemis II mission: ‘This is something we’ve never done before’

Sen. Mark Kelly, a retired NASA astronaut from Arizona, highlighted the historic scope of the Artemis II lunar mission, noting that astronauts will travel 4,000 miles around the far side of the moon—a distance never reached even during the Apollo program. Kelly made the comments Wednesday in an interview with NewsNation, underscoring that the upcoming mission represents genuinely new territory for American space exploration. Artemis II is NASA's next crewed lunar test flight following the successful uncrewed Artemis I mission and marks a critical step toward returning humans to the moon and eventually establishing a sustained presence there. The mission's trajectory around the lunar far side will test systems and procedures required for future landing missions as part of the broader Artemis program.