ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO – NASA’s Artemis II mission is scheduled to launch today, marking the first crewed flight around the Moon in more than 50 years — and New Mexico is playing a key role in the mission’s success.
While the four‑astronaut crew will launch from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, critical mission communications will be handled from ground stations located in Las Cruces. The stations are part of NASA’s Orion Optical Communications system, known as O2O, which uses laser technology to transmit data from deep space back to Earth.
During the 10‑day mission, the Orion spacecraft will beam high‑definition video and large volumes of data to Earth using optical laser signals rather than traditional radio waves. Those signals will be received and processed through the Las Cruces facilities, helping engineers monitor spacecraft systems and crew activity throughout the mission.
NASA says the laser‑based communication system allows faster and more detailed data transmission, a capability considered essential for future lunar landings and long‑term deep‑space missions.
Artemis II will send astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen on a flight path that will carry them farther from Earth than any crewed mission in history before returning for a high‑speed reentry. The mission is a major test flight ahead of planned human landings on the Moon later this decade.
