Artemis II goes final‑prep

NASA completed its two‑day Flight Readiness Review on March 12 and polled “go” to proceed toward launch reported). The SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft are scheduled to roll from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39B on March 19, with the vehicle to be carried by Crawler‑Transporter 2 for the move announced). Agency managers have set an earliest‑possible liftoff of April 1, 2026 at 6:24 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time as the opening launch opportunity for Artemis II stated). The four‑person crew — Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialists Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen — will fly a roughly 10‑day lunar flyby aboard Orion to test systems with humans on board listed). Technicians traced the recent anomaly to a dislodged seal in the SLS upper‑stage helium pressurization system and completed repairs inside the VAB, a fix NASA says keeps an April launch on track explained). Operational support continues in parallel: Northrop Grumman’s CRS‑24 resupply mission is slated for April 8 to restock the ISS scheduled), and a SpaceX Dragon cargo flight is set for April 21 to deliver additional supplies noted). Planetary‑defense teams remain active as well, publishing analyses showing NASA’s DART impact measurably altered the Didymos–Dimorphos system’s orbit — a key data point for future deflection planning published).