As Artemis II prepares for its historic launch—the first crewed Moon mission in over 50 years—the Orion European Service Module (ESM-2), built by Airbus for ESA, is fully integrated and flight-ready. The ESM provides propulsion, power, thermal control, and life support for four astronauts.
Scheduled from Kennedy Space Center, NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and CSA’s Jeremy Hansen will embark on a 10-day lunar journey. Unlike uncrewed Artemis I, this mission places human lives in European engineering. Airbus’s Marc Steckling notes the shift from test vehicle to living space.
The ESM-2 carries 90 kg of oxygen and 240 kg of water, plus active thermal control and 11.2 kW of power from four solar arrays. Its 33 engines include one main Space Shuttle OMS engine, eight auxiliaries, and 24 thrusters.
New capabilities for Artemis II: high-speed laser communication (O2O) transmitting 4K video at 260 Mbps, and manual piloting tests using hand controllers. The crew will fly 6,400–9,000 km above the Moon—closer than any humans in 50 years—and may break Apollo 13’s distance record.
Airbus is already building ESM-3 (2027, docking tests), ESM-4 (2028, lunar landing), and ESM-5/6 (production). Final assembly is in Bremen, Germany.
