Houston Texans celebrate upcoming Artemis 2 mission
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NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins, center, and Johnson Space Center employees Tessa Rundle and Daniel Kolodziejcyk, wearing Orion Crew Survival System spacesuits, take the field during the Texans’ “Reppin’ H-Town” appearance. | Credit: Image courtesy of the Houston Texans
On January 4, 2026, during the Houston Texans Space City Day Game, two bright orange spacesuits stood out against the green turf of NRG Stadium. from NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) took the stage to give fans a close-up look at Artemis 2the agency’s first crewed mission in the Artemis campaign to return humans to the moon.
By the way, the Texans played the Indianapolis Colts that day and won 38-30.
What is this?
Artemis 2 is designed as a 10-day lunar flyby that will send four astronauts — from NASA Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover And Christine Kochmore Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen — around the Moon and return to Earth aboard the Orion spacecraftlaunched on NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.
Unlike later Artemis landing missions, Artemis 2 is primarily a journey into deep space: the crew will check out Orion’s systems in the environment beyond. low earth orbitfrom life support to navigation and communications, relying directly on unmanned technology Artemis 1 test flight in lunar orbit in 2022.
NASA currently lists Targeted launch of Artemis 2 date from February and no later than April 2026.
Where is he?
NRG Stadium is located in Houston, Texas.
JSC employees Tessa Rundle and Daniel Kolodziejcyk, wearing Orion Crew Survival System spacesuits, celebrate the upcoming Artemis 2 mission with NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins, center. | Credit: Image courtesy of the Houston Texans
Why is this amazing?
The Space Day celebration shows how closely NASA’s history is tied to the city of Houston. JSC, a key hub for space exploration and human spaceflight, is not only “near Houston” but is home to the NASA Astronaut Corps, Mission Control and key programs like Orion and Gateway, making Space City Day Houston a natural stop to promote the upcoming crewed lunar mission.
In addition to getting people excited about the upcoming launch, NASA also encouraged the public to symbolically “go along” with the astronauts. During the halftime festivities, NASA promoted its “Send your name with Artemis 2” initiative, which stores participants’ names on a small chip that will travel inside Orion during the mission, a simple way to turn a major milestone in space exploration into something open to everyone.
Want to know more?
You can learn more about the Mission Artemis 2 and the history of lunar missions.
