Artemis II launches tonight
Artemis II — NASA’s crewed lunar mission — was set to launch April 1 at 6:24 PM ET, marking the farthest humans will have traveled in more than 50 years as astronauts arrived at Kennedy for final prep. The White House framed it as a major national win even as the mission stokes global interest in space commercialization and geopolitics. (x.com) (x.com)
Artemis II’s four-person crew is Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Christina Hammock Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen. (nasa.gov) The flight is planned as an approximately 10‑day crewed test to validate Orion’s life‑support and other deep‑space systems with humans aboard for the first time. (nasa.gov) The mission will launch on NASA’s Space Launch System and carry the Orion crew capsule from Launch Complex 39B; it marks the SLS vehicle’s second flight and Orion’s third orbital mission. (nasaspaceflight.com) NASA is flying Orion on a free‑return lunar trajectory that will send the spacecraft roughly 230,000 miles from Earth and about 4,600 miles beyond the Moon’s far side before a planned Pacific splashdown around April 11 off the coast of San Diego. (astronomy.com) Recovery and splashdown operations have been rehearsed multiple times with Department of Defense partners, including underway recovery tests off San Diego and coordination with naval recovery ships. (nasa.gov) Teams resolved a ground safety‑system issue during final tanking and confirmed the launch attempt after repairs, and NASA’s live coverage is being carried on NASA+, Amazon Prime and YouTube. (cbsnews.com)
