Artemis II cleared final hurdle for April 1

NASA’s Artemis II program cleared its last major prelaunch review in March before proceeding to an April 1, 2026 liftoff from Kennedy Space Center, according to NASA. The agency said on March 12 that it had concluded the Artemis II Flight Readiness Review, a formal step used to confirm that the Space Launch System rocket, Orion spacecraft and ground systems were ready to move toward flight. (nasa.gov 1) (nasa.gov 2) NASA’s own mission pages also show that the flight was a crewed mission around the Moon, not a low-Earth-orbit operations mission. The agency describes Artemis II as a roughly 10-day lunar flyby that would test Orion and SLS with astronauts aboard for the first time. (nasa.gov) ### What was the “final hurdle” Artemis II had to clear? The March 12 Flight Readiness Review was the last major agency review before launch. NASA said it would brief reporters from Kennedy Space Center after the review’s conclusion, underscoring that the meeting was the formal checkpoint before the mission entered its final launch stretch. (nasa.gov) Spectroscopy Online described that review as the mission’s “final hurdle” in an Aug. 5 article looking back on the prelaunch campaign. Its report said NASA was preparing to launch Artemis II no earlier than April 1, 2026 after earlier technical delays. (nasa.gov) ### Was Artemis II a low-Earth-orbit mission? NASA’s description says no. The agency says Artemis II would launch four astronauts into Earth orbit and then send them on a loop around the Moon before returning to Earth on a free-return trajectory. NASA’s Artemis II mission page calls it the first crewed lunar flyby in about 50 years. (nasa.gov) A separate launch event page says four astronauts would “venture around the Moon” on the mission, which the agency listed as a 10-day flight. ### What exactly was NASA targeting for April 1? NASA listed Artemis II on its event calendar for April 1, 2026, with a scheduled launch time of 6:35 p.m. from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (spectroscopyonline.com) Spectroscopy Online separately reported a target time of 6:24 p.m. in its prelaunch story, reflecting timing published before the final launch-day update. NASA’s launch-day live updates show the mission lifted off on Wednesday, April 1, 2026 from Launch Complex 39B. (svs.gsfc.nasa.gov) In its post-launch release, NASA said the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft sent four astronauts on a planned 10-day test flight around the Moon and back. (nasa.gov) ### Who was flying, and what was NASA testing? NASA said Artemis II carried four astronauts aboard Orion on the first crewed flight of the Artemis program. The mission was designed to test the spacecraft, rocket and related systems with people on board before later lunar missions. NASA’s trajectory material says the flight used a free-return path, meaning Earth’s and the Moon’s gravity would naturally guide Orion back home. (nasa.gov) That profile is central to how NASA framed Artemis II: a systems test in deep space before future lunar surface operations. ### What came after launch? April 10, 2026 was NASA’s listed splashdown date on the Artemis II mission page. (nasa.gov) NASA later said the launch occurred on April 1 at 6:35 p.m. EDT and that the mission would continue as a planned 10-day flight around the Moon and back. NASA said in an April 20 postflight update that initial Artemis II assessments were underway after launch. (nasa.gov) Separately, the agency said on Aug. 5 that Artemis III Orion crew and service modules had been joined at Kennedy Space Center, while work continued across the broader Artemis pipeline. (nasa.gov) (svs.gsfc.nasa.gov)