NASA Launches Artemis II: Four Astronauts Begin First Crewed Moon Flyby in 53 Years
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| Credit: NASA |
NASA’s Space Launch System rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 39B at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 6:35 p.m. EDT on April 1, sending the Orion spacecraft and a crew of four astronauts on a 10-day test flight that marks the first time humans have traveled beyond low Earth orbit since the final Apollo mission in 1972.
The crew consists of NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, commander; Victor Glover, pilot; and Christina Koch, mission specialist; along with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, mission specialist.
Orion, which the crew named Integrity, separated from the SLS upper stage after it placed the spacecraft into an initial elliptical orbit around Earth.
About 49 minutes after launch, the upper stage performed a second burn to raise the orbit to roughly 46,000 miles above Earth.
The crew then took manual control of the spacecraft for a handling demonstration while ground teams at Johnson Space Center in Houston checked out its systems.
According to NASA’s official news release issued shortly after liftoff, the mission objectives center on verifying Orion’s life support systems with humans aboard for the first time and gathering data that will support future crewed landings on the lunar surface.
“Today’s launch marks a defining moment for our nation and for all who believe in exploration,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in the release. “Artemis II builds on the vision set by President Donald J. Trump, returning humanity to the Moon for the first time in more than 50 years and opening the next chapter of lunar exploration beyond Apollo.”
If the spacecraft remains healthy, controllers plan to command Orion’s European-built service module to perform a translunar injection burn on April 2.
That maneuver will send the vehicle out of Earth orbit on a free-return trajectory that will loop around the Moon. The crew is scheduled to conduct a multi-hour lunar flyby on April 6, passing within 4,000 to 6,000 miles of the surface and becoming the first humans to view portions of the lunar far side in person.
During the close approach, the astronauts will photograph the Moon and contribute to scientific observations, including studies of human health in deep space.
Watch the liftoff here:
Liftoff.
— NASA (@NASA) April 1, 2026
The Artemis II mission launched from @NASAKennedy at 6:35pm ET (2235 UTC), propelling four astronauts on a journey around the Moon.
Artemis II will pave the way for future Moon landings, as well as the next giant leap — astronauts on Mars. pic.twitter.com/ENQA4RTqAc
The SLS rocket generated more than 8.8 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, the most powerful launch vehicle NASA has ever flown.
Orion deployed its solar arrays shortly after separation, and the upper stage later released four CubeSats from international partners to conduct their own science and technology demonstrations.
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| Credit: NASA |
NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya said in the same release that the flight remains a test mission.
“Artemis II is a test flight, and the test has just begun,” he stated. “The team that built this vehicle, repaired it, and prepared it for flight has given our crew the machine they need to go prove what it can do.”
The mission will conclude with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on April 10.
Data collected from the crew’s observations, spacecraft performance, and human-health experiments will shape the design of subsequent Artemis flights, including the planned Artemis III lunar landing.
As of April 2, the spacecraft and crew are continuing their outbound journey after the initial orbit-raising burns.
