NASA's Artemis II Mission Set for Historic Lunar Flyby
NASA's Artemis II mission is scheduled to launch on April 1, 2026, marking the first crewed lunar flyby in over 50 years.
NASA is preparing to launch the Artemis II mission on April 1, 2026, at 6:24 p.m. EDT from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This mission will be the first crewed lunar flyby since Apollo 17 in 1972, carrying astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian Jeremy Hansen on a 10-day journey around the Moon. The crew will travel aboard the Orion spacecraft, propelled by the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, and will perform a figure-eight maneuver around the Moon before returning to Earth. The mission aims to test the Orion spacecraft's life support systems and lay the groundwork for future crewed Artemis missions. Weather conditions remain a primary concern, but NASA officials express confidence in proceeding as planned.
