NASA Gears Up for Artemis II Launch Around the Moon a Week From Now
NASA is preparing to launch the Artemis II crewed lunar mission as soon as April 1, 2026, marking the first human flight around the Moon since the Apollo era. The mission will lift off from Launch Complex 39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, sending four astronauts on a roughly 10 day mission beyond low Earth orbit and around the Moon before returning to Earth. NASA completed its Flight Readiness Review in mid March, clearing the mission to proceed toward rollout and final launch preparations. The agency rolled the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft to the launch pad ahead of the planned launch window, with final closeout work underway before countdown operations begin. The mission represents the first crewed flight of the Artemis program and a major step toward returning humans to the lunar surface.
Artemis II will carry NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen aboard the Orion spacecraft, launched on NASA’s Space Launch System rocket. The crew will conduct a free return trajectory around the Moon, allowing the spacecraft to return safely even in the event of propulsion issues. The mission is expected to last approximately 10 days, with the spacecraft traveling farther from Earth than any human mission since Apollo 17 in 1972. Engineers recently completed repairs to the rocket following helium flow and fueling test issues, after which NASA rolled the vehicle back to the launch pad for final preparations. Backup launch opportunities extend through early April, depending on weather and technical readiness.
Artemis II follows the uncrewed Artemis I mission flown in 2022 and serves as a test of deep space life support, navigation, and spacecraft performance before a planned lunar landing mission. NASA intends to use data from the crewed lunar flyby to support Artemis III, which is designed to return astronauts to the Moon and establish a sustained lunar exploration architecture. The mission is also expected to validate launch systems, ground infrastructure, and operational procedures required for future Artemis flights and long duration human missions beyond Earth orbit.
