New Orleans has a significant role in NASA's Artemis II mission, a high-stakes crewed test flight marking America's return to the Moon. The launch window for the Artemis II "stack" is uncertain due to technical issues. New Orleans built a significant part of the rocket, the most powerful rocket NASA has ever built, and plans to use it for future missions to Mars. The 10-day mission is a crewed "dress rehearsal" for a lunar landing. The mission will see astronauts Victor Glover and Christina Koch become the first person of color and first woman to travel beyond low Earth orbit.