How Artemis II Will Return Astronauts to the Moon
NASA is set to launch Artemis II, the agency’s first crewed mission to the Moon since Apollo 17, from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39B at 6:24 p.m. EDT on 1 April 2026. The four‑person crew—Kristina Koch, Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman and Jeremy Hansen—will board the Orion spacecraft after a final access‑arm retraction and a series of pre‑flight checks that began with the official countdown about 49 hours before liftoff. The launch follows a 10‑hour propellant loading sequence that started at T‑10 hours, during which more than 700,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen are transferred to the Space Launch System (SLS) core stage.
The SLS, stacked with Orion atop the Mobile Launcher and rolled out of the Vehicle Assembly Building, will ignite its four RS‑25 core‑stage engines at T‑6 seconds and its two solid‑rocket boosters at liftoff, delivering the combined thrust needed to clear the tower and break the sound barrier within the first minute of flight. After booster separation at 2 minutes 8 seconds, the core stage will shut down at 8 minutes 6 seconds, after which the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS) will separate and later fire to raise Orion’s perigee and then its apogee, positioning the spacecraft for a trans‑lunar injection at 1 day 1 hour 37 minutes. Orion will deploy four solar arrays at 20 minutes, marking NASA’s first crewed vehicle to rely on solar power rather than hydrogen fuel cells. Proximity‑operations with the spent ICPS will occur between 3 hours 25 minutes and 4 hours 25 minutes, testing manual piloting and rendezvous techniques that will support future docking with Starship HLS and Blue Moon Mk.2 landers.
Artemis II’s trajectory will carry the crew into lunar orbit on Flight Day 5, making them the first humans to leave Earth’s gravity well since 1972, and will bring them within a few hours of the Moon’s surface for imaging and scientific observations. The mission’s ten‑day timeline includes radiation‑shielding demonstrations, a final re‑entry burn at 8 days 20 hours 33 minutes, and a controlled splashdown over the Pacific Ocean after Orion separates from its service module. Successful execution will validate Orion’s systems, SLS performance, and deep‑space operational procedures, establishing a foundation for subsequent Artemis flights that aim to land astronauts on the lunar surface and sustain a long‑term presence.
