NASA’s Artemis II Rocket Launch: New Insights into Space Radiation

The Artemis II is a planned 2026 spaceflight mission to fly by the Moon, led by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The 10-day mission will carry four crew members, and aims to test technology developed for flying to the Moon since the last Apollo mission in 1972.

Radiation and health studies will also be carried out, to study human responses to new stressors faced in space.

The first launch window for Artemis II was initially targeted for February 8 to 11, 2026. However, after pre-launch tests, NASA announced that they would no longer be looking at February for the launch.

The delay was decided after the team encountered several issues during pre-launch testing, including a leak of liquid hydrogen propellant.

NASA is now targeting March 2026 as the earliest possible timing for the Artemis II launch test.

As space travel advances, radiation remains an important health concern. Exposure to space radiation may pose a serious potential long-term health threat for astronauts on missions.

While the Earth’s atmosphere and magnetic shield protect us from cosmic radiation, space vehicles require special shielding against cosmic radiation. The longer astronauts stay in space, the higher their total cumulative radiation exposure. This remains one of the biggest limitations for longer space explorations.

For the Artemis II, radiation sensors will be deployed to monitor the level of radiation exposure to crew members. The results from these sensors will help researchers better understand radiation exposure on the space shuttle, and contextualize other biological research being conducted concurrently.

Currently, scientists plan to test whether organ-on-a-chip technology is a reliable and accurate way to predict and measure human responses to stressors (e.g. extreme radiation). Advancements like this could make it easier to develop individualized treatments for diseases, including cancer.

The Artemis II astronauts will also have their immune biomarkers, movement and sleep patterns monitored throughout and after the journey – to help design safer ways for future space travel.

Space cancer research provides a unique opportunity to test the effects of microgravity on cancer cell growth and drug development. Microgravity is the condition of experiencing weightlessness, where gravity's effects are significantly reduced.

This is usually seen in space, or on onboard spacecraft (e.g. the International Space Station). It’s not truly zero gravity, as a small amount of the Earth’s pull is still present. Microgravity in space provides a unique environment for experiments. Currently, NASA has opened the International Space Station for scientists and researchers, inviting them to use the benefits of microgravity for both commercial and public research.

So far, research on the International Space Station has shown that microgravity improves the stability of crystalline drug suspensions. Results like this enable improvements in drug manufacturing and storage quality, and may potentially lead to reducing costs for cancer drug production.

Merck has been working with the International Space Station since 2014 on experiments about crystal formation, with the goal of improving the delivery of cancer drugs (e.g. pembrolizumab, also known as Keytruda).

Their research has developed a more convenient way to administer Merck’s drug, Keytruda, through a simple subcutaneous injection. This new formulation was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in September 2025 and offers a quicker, time-saving alternative to the previous slow intravenous (IV) infusion that could take up to two hours.

With new advances in space travel and research, researchers may also reach new frontiers in accelerating drug development and radiation exposure research – helping improve medical treatments for those back on Earth.