NASA's Artemis II Mission Launches Successfully, Marking First Crewed Lunar Voyage in Over 50 Years
NASA's Artemis II mission launched successfully on April 1, 2026, carrying four astronauts on a 10-day journey around the Moon, marking the first crewed lunar mission since 1972.
NASA's Artemis II mission successfully launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 1, 2026, at 6:35 p.m. Eastern Time. This marks the first crewed lunar mission since Apollo 17 in 1972. The 10-day mission carries four astronauts: NASA's Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency's Jeremy Hansen. The crew will perform a lunar flyby, traveling approximately 4,000 miles beyond the Moon before returning to Earth. This mission aims to test the Orion capsule's life-support systems and manual controls, laying the groundwork for future lunar landings planned under NASA's Artemis program. President Donald Trump congratulated the crew and NASA, highlighting the mission as a significant achievement for the United States in space exploration. The Artemis program seeks to establish a sustainable human presence on the Moon, with Artemis II serving as a critical step toward that goal.