Updated on: March 27, 2026 / 5:27 PM EDT / CBS News
The Artemis II astronauts flew to Kennedy Space Center on Friday to prepare for the scheduled April 1 launch that will take them on a nearly 700,000-mile voyage around the moon and back — the first crew to leave Earth orbit since the final Apollo mission about 50 years ago.
Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen traveled from Johnson Space Center in Houston aboard T-38 jets, touching down on the spaceport’s three-mile runway around 2:10 p.m. Eastern. Wiseman pumped his fists on the runway and said, “Hey, let’s go to the moon!” noting the team felt “really pumped to go do this for this entire team.”
Countdown clocks are set to start at 4:44 p.m. EDT Monday, lining up a launch attempt at 6:24 p.m. Wednesday, the opening of a two-hour window. The crew had hoped to launch in early February but the flight was delayed after hydrogen leaks during a fueling test and later by problems pressurizing the rocket’s upper-stage propulsion system. Engineers moved the 322-foot SLS rocket back to the Vehicle Assembly Building, traced the issue to an out-of-place seal, recharged several batteries, and returned the vehicle to the pad.
While tests and checkouts indicated the SLS rocket and Orion crew ship are ready, Wiseman said the team is prepared for another possible delay. Because of orbital mechanics, lunar lighting and power constraints, the crew has until April 6 to launch; missing that window would push the mission back about four weeks.
This will be only the second flight of the Space Launch System and the first to carry astronauts, and likewise the first crewed Orion flight. Before departing for the moon, the crew will spend a full day in Earth orbit testing Orion’s life support and critical systems. Wiseman explained that the 24-hour orbit allows the team to confirm environmental control and life support functions — CO2 scrubbing, water and waste systems and other basic human needs — which were not tested on Artemis I.
The crew will carry a small plush toy named “Rise,” the contest-winning design of a California second-grader, as a zero-gravity indicator. A zippered pocket in the toy will hold a computer card with the names of nearly six million people who responded to NASA’s “send your name around the moon” campaign.
If all goes to plan, Orion will pass within about 4,100 miles of the moon on April 6, offering the astronauts a rare view of the lunar far side as gravity bends the spacecraft back toward Earth. Re-entry and splashdown in the Pacific near San Diego are targeted for April 10.
Artemis II will set the stage for a follow-on Earth-orbit flight next year to test rendezvous and docking with commercial moon landers being developed by SpaceX and Blue Origin. If those missions succeed, NASA aims to attempt one or two lunar landings in 2028 and to begin work toward a moon base near the lunar south pole for longer-duration surface stays. Koch said the crew is motivated and inspired by the program’s direction, and Wiseman emphasized readiness while acknowledging the complexity of launching millions of pounds of propellant and hardware to the moon.