Which NASA mission carried an America250 flag around the Moon?

NASA’s Artemis II mission carried the spirit of America250 around the Moon with an America250 flag.

Artemis II was the first crewed mission in NASA’s Artemis program. Its four astronauts traveled beyond low Earth orbit, performed a lunar flyby, and returned to Earth. The mission connected the semiquincentennial with a major milestone in American space exploration and innovation.

Artemis I preceded it as an uncrewed test flight of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft. Apollo 11, by contrast, was the 1969 mission that first landed humans on the Moon. These missions are often mixed up because all belong to the broader history of lunar exploration, but Artemis II was the crewed lunar-flyby mission associated with the America250 flag.

The mission’s crew included three U.S. astronauts and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen. During the flight, the spacecraft traveled farther from Earth than any humans had previously gone, reinforcing the connection between the anniversary’s historical theme and contemporary American aerospace achievement.