Artemis II will be the first crewed mission to travel beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972. A crew of four will fly Orion on a free-return trajectory around the Moon — proving out systems for the first lunar landing in over half a century.
Currently: in high Earth orbit checkout
The crew and Mission Control verify all Orion systems in the high-energy orbit: life support, environmental controls, propulsion, navigation, and communications.
Final launch preparations at Kennedy Space Center LC-39B: crew suit-up, board Orion, hatch close, countdown initiation, and communications checks.
Cryogenic propellants — liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen — are loaded into the SLS core stage and the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS).
Reid Wiseman is a NASA astronaut, U.S. Navy test pilot, and former NASA Chief Astronaut. He logged 165 days aboard the ISS as commander of Expedition 40/41 in 2014, conducting three spacewalks.
Commander of the first crewed Artemis mission to travel beyond low Earth orbit. The first crewed deep-space flight since Apollo 17 in December 1972.
The apogee raise burn was successfully completed, continuing to fine tune the Orion spacecraft’s orbit around Earth. The ICPS (interim cryogenic propulsion stage) ignited its RL10 engine for a precisely timed burn that increased the highest point of the spacecraft’s orbit. Ahead of the burn, the Artemis II crew began s…
Read more →The perigee raise maneuver was successfully completed, refining the Orion spacecraft’s orbit around Earth. The interim cryogenic propulsion stage ignited its RL10 engine for a precisely timed burn that increased the lowest point of the spacecraft’s orbit. Shortly after the burn, the spacecraft experienced a loss of com…
Official live launch coverage, mission updates, and crew interviews on the NASA YouTube channel.
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Artemis real-time orbit website — live trajectory, mission elapsed time, and telemetry after launch.
Final automated countdown sequence. The Launch Director polls all teams for a "go" call. The Orion crew are strapped in and ready.
SLS Block 1 ignites its four RS-25 engines and twin solid rocket boosters, producing 8.8 million pounds of thrust. Artemis II leaves Earth's surface.
Core stage separation and ICPS ignition. The ICPS performs two burns to boost Orion into a high Earth orbit — the first crewed spacecraft to reach this altitude since Apollo.
The crew and Mission Control verify all Orion systems in the high-energy orbit: life support, environmental controls, propulsion, navigation, and communications.
Commander Wiseman manually pilots Orion away from and back toward the spent ICPS stage, demonstrating the rendezvous and proximity skills needed for future Gateway dockings.
The ICPS fires its RL-10 engine for the translunar injection burn, accelerating Orion to ~36,000 km/h and setting it on a free-return trajectory around the Moon.
Orion coasts toward the Moon over several days, decelerating as it climbs out of Earth's gravity well. The crew conducts system tests and rest periods.
Orion enters the Moon's sphere of gravitational influence — the first crewed spacecraft to do so in over 50 years. The Moon's gravity now dominates the trajectory.
Closest approach to the Moon at approximately 8,900 km — closer than any crewed spacecraft since Apollo 17. The free-return trajectory carries Orion home without a propulsive burn.
Orion rides the free-return trajectory back toward Earth, accelerating as it descends through Earth's gravity well. The crew prepares Orion for reentry operations.
Orion performs a skip reentry — skimming off the atmosphere once before final descent — to reduce g-forces on the crew. Heat shield temperatures reach approximately 2,760 °C.
Orion splashes down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego. Navy divers and recovery teams extract the crew and secure the capsule for return to shore.
Victor Glover is a NASA astronaut and U.S. Navy aviator. He served as pilot on SpaceX Crew Dragon's first operational crew mission, living aboard the ISS for 168 days in 2020–21.
Pilot of Orion on Artemis II. The first person of color to travel to the Moon.
Christina Koch is a NASA astronaut and electrical engineer. She holds the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman — 328 consecutive days aboard the ISS, including the first all-female spacewalk with Jessica Meir.
First woman to travel to the Moon. Holds the female single-mission spaceflight duration record (328 days, ISS Expeditions 59–61).
Jeremy Hansen is a Canadian Space Agency astronaut, fighter pilot, and RCAF Colonel. A rookie to spaceflight, he will become the first non-American to travel beyond Earth orbit — a historic milestone for international space exploration.
First Canadian and first non-American to venture beyond Earth orbit. Represents the Artemis Program's international partnership.
Live updates for launch of NASA’s Artemis II test flight will be published on this page. NASA’s launch broadcast coverage is airing on NASA+, Amazon Prime, and YouTube. All times are Eastern. 6:59 p.m. The Orion spacecraft’s SAWs (solar arrays wings) have fully deployed, completing a key …
Read more →As the Artemis II countdown moves steadily toward liftoff no earlier than 6:24 p.m. EDT, Wednesday, April 1, launch teams at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida continue completing a sequence of highly choreographed steps to ready the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft for the crew’s jou…
Read more →The countdown for NASA’s Artemis II test flight is underway at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, with members of the launch team arriving at their consoles inside the Rocco Petrone Launch Control Center. The onsite countdown clock started ticking down at 4:44 p.m. EDT …
Read more →Ahead of call to stations at 4:34 p.m. EDT on Monday, and the countdown clock beginning at 4:44 p.m., engineers continue preparations toward the launch of the Artemis II mission from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The agency is targeting no earlier than Wednesday, April 1, for launch. The weather forecast show…
Read more →Teams at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida are making final preparations toward beginning launch countdown activities for the Artemis II mission, set to launch as early as Wednesday, April 1. The weather forecast for launch day shows an 80% chance of favorable weather conditions with primary concerns being cloud c…
Read more →The four astronauts set to fly around the Moon on NASA’s Artemis II test flight arrived at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Friday, March 27. NASA continues to target as soon as Wednesday, April 1, for launch within a two-hour window that opens at 6:24 p.m. EDT. During remarks at Kennedy’s Launch and [R…
Read more →Teams at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida continue preparing the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft for its crewed launch as early as Wednesday, April 1. After rolling to Launch Pad 39B on top the mobile launcher on March 20, teams began securing the rocket, spacecraft and launch platform…
Read more →At 11:21 a.m. EDT on Friday, March 20, NASA’s Artemis II SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft arrived at Launch Pad 39B after an 11-hour journey from the Vehicle Assembly Building at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.  NASA’s crawler-transporter 2…
Read more →Source: NASA Artemis Blog (blogs.nasa.gov/artemis) · Refreshed every 2 min
Source: NASA Image and Video Library (images-api.nasa.gov) · All images courtesy NASA