The Artemis II mission represents the first time astronauts have launched beyond low Earth orbit since 1972.

Apollo 13 star Tom Hanks celebrates historic Artemis II launch, NASA’s first crewed lunar mission in over 50 years

The Artemis II mission represents the first time astronauts have launched beyond low Earth orbit since 1972.

By Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman is a news writer for with previous work in MUBI Notebook, Slant, and the LA Review of Books.

EW's editorial guidelines

April 1, 2026 9:39 p.m. ET

Leave a Comment

Tom Hanks (center) with the crew of NASA's Artemis II mission. Credit:

Max Cisotti/Dave Benett/Getty

- Tom Hanks is celebrating the launch of NASA's Artemis II mission, and the four astronauts that make up its crew.

- "Did you know that no humans have traveled beyond the gravitational pull of the Earth since December 1972?" he wrote on social media, before thanking each astronaut by name.

- The Artemis II launch represents NASA's first mission bound beyond low Earth orbit in over 50 years.

In keeping with his continued, *Forrest Gump*-impelled cultural duties, Tom Hanks was present at the site of American history today.

The veteran actor and star of interstellar classic *Apollo 13* congratulated the four astronauts bound for the moon on NASA's historic Artemis II mission, which launched on Wednesday.

"Did you know that no humans have traveled beyond the gravitational pull of the Earth since December 1972?" Hanks wrote in an Instagram post hours after the Orion CM-003 Integrity achieved liftoff. "That changes today, when the crew of Artemis lifts off from the Cape... Reid Wiseman. Victor Glover. Jeremy Hansen. Christina Koch. On a voyage around the Moon. Godspeed, Artemis... And thank you."

Wednesday's Artemis II launch achieves several historic milestones at once.

The 10-day mission manned by American astronauts Weisman, Glover, and Koch, along with Canadian astronaut Hansen, may take them further than humanity has ever traveled. The Orion CM-003 Integrity, so named by the Artemis II crew because it "embodies the foundation of trust, respect, candor, and humility across the crew," is on a free-return trajectory. That means it will loop the moon, and return to Earth purely utilizing gravitational forces, and without any additional propulsion.

The Artemis II lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on April 1.

Gregg Newton / AFP via Getty

The lunar fly-around is likely to push past the record set in 1970 by the crew of the Apollo 13 — the very same mission dramatized in the 1995 film of the same name starring Hanks. The Artemis II also represents the first crewed flight of NASA's Orion reusable spacecraft, and the first crewed mission beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972.

JD Vance warns that extraterrestrials are demons: 'I'm going to get to the bottom of this'

'A League of Their Own' star Tom Hanks returning to the dugout with new baseball dramedy

"Artemis II is the start of something bigger than any one mission. It marks our return to the Moon, not just to visit, but to eventually stay on our Moon Base, and lays the foundation for the next giant leaps ahead," NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman shared in a release announcing the Artemis II launch on Wednesday.

***Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our ******EW Dispatch newsletter******.***

Hanks has a special attachment to the Artemis II mission and its crew. The actor recently co-wrote and narrated the film *The Moonwalkers: A Journey with Tom Hanks*, which treks back through NASA's history of lunar voyages, and features interviews between Hanks and the Artemis II astronauts.

Tom Hanks in 'Apollo 13'.

Universal/courtesy Everett

Back in February, Hanks reflected on the importance of the Artemis II mission, not just to science, but for a sense of hope.

"If we can figure out how to land a man on the moon and get him safely back, we can figure out everything," he told the Houston Public Media program *Houston Matters*. "There's a degree of hopeless, of willing to throw your hands up, because life is one damn thing after another... but everything that comes after [the Apollo 11 mission] is like, 'No, this can be solved.'"

- Science and Technology

Original Article on Source

Source: “EW Science”