NASA’s Artemis 2 astronauts named their Orion capsule “Integrity,” reflecting trust and unity for a 10-day lunar flyby, the first crewed Moon mission since Apollo 17.
Artemis 2 will launch atop NASA’s powerful Space Launch System, marking a major step in lunar missions
Photo Credit: NASA
NASA astronauts of the Artemis 2 mission announced the name of their Orion ship on September 24, 2025: Integrity. The crew selected it as a symbol of trust, humility, respect, and candor, all of which they think humanity requires to return to deep space. In the first mission in ten days, Artemis 2 will carry four astronauts around the moon and this will be the first crewed trip to the moon since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972.
According to NASA, along with mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen, pilot Victor Glover, and commander Reid Wiseman, the name was chosen during the crew quarantine at NASA's Johnson Space Center. They took a number of alternatives and then chose Integrity to pay tribute to thousands of engineers, scientists and planners who facilitated the mission. NASA observes that the word displays the basics of trust, respect, candor and humility that bind the international team under the company. The name also puts emphasis on the combined complexity of the operations and the spacecraft of the Artemis program.
Artemis 2 will ride atop NASA's Space Launch System and carry the Integrity capsule on a loop around the Moon and back to Earth over roughly ten days. Unlike later missions, it will not attempt a lunar landing or stable orbit. Instead, it will serve as a test flight, validating spacecraft systems in deep space and advancing toward Artemis 3, which aims to land crew near the moon's south pole in 2027. The mission follows the tradition of crewed spacecraft naming by their first astronauts — for example, the inaugural Crew Dragon capsule was named Grace. Artemis 2 will be the first crewed lunar-adjacent flight since Apollo 17 in 1972.
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