Updated March 27, 2026 — The Artemis II crew arrived at Kennedy Space Center on Friday to begin final preparations for a planned April 1 launch that would send them on a roughly 700,000-mile trip around the moon and back — the first astronauts to leave Earth orbit since Apollo.
Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen flew from Johnson Space Center in Houston aboard T‑38 jets, touching down on the three‑mile runway at the spaceport around 2:10 p.m. Eastern. Wiseman pumped his fists on the runway and told reporters the team was “really pumped” to get going, adding, “Let’s go to the moon.”
Countdown clocks are scheduled to start at 4:44 p.m. EDT Monday, lining up a first launch attempt at 6:24 p.m. Wednesday with a two‑hour window. The flight was originally targeted for early February but was pushed back after hydrogen leaks were discovered during a fueling test and later by problems pressurizing the rocket’s upper‑stage propulsion system. Engineers rolled the 322‑foot Space Launch System (SLS) back to the Vehicle Assembly Building, traced the pressurization problem to an out‑of‑place seal, recharged several batteries and returned the vehicle to the pad.
Although recent tests and checkouts indicate the SLS rocket and Orion crew capsule are ready, Wiseman said the team is prepared for another possible slip. Because of orbital mechanics, lunar lighting and power constraints, Artemis II has a hard launch opportunity through April 6; missing that window would delay the mission by about four weeks.
This is the SLS rocket’s second flight and its first with astronauts aboard, and it will be the first crewed mission of the Orion spacecraft. Before heading to the moon, the crew will spend a full day in Earth orbit — about 24 hours — verifying life support and other critical systems. That orbital period will let them confirm environmental control and life support functions such as CO2 scrubbing, water recycling and waste management, systems that were not exercised on Artemis I.
Onboard will be a small plush toy named “Rise,” the winning design from a California second‑grader, serving as a zero‑gravity indicator. A zippered pocket inside the toy will carry a computer card containing the names of nearly six million people who responded to NASA’s “send your name around the moon” campaign.
If the mission proceeds as planned, Orion will swing within roughly 4,100 miles of the moon on April 6, giving the crew a rare view of the lunar far side as gravity bends the spacecraft back toward Earth. Re‑entry and splashdown in the Pacific, off the coast of San Diego, are targeted for April 10.
Artemis II is intended to pave the way for a follow‑on Earth‑orbit flight next year that will test rendezvous and docking with commercial lunar landers being developed by SpaceX and Blue Origin. If those demonstrations succeed, NASA aims to attempt one or two lunar landings in 2028 and to begin work toward a sustained presence near the lunar south pole for longer surface stays.
Koch said the crew is inspired by the program’s goals, while Wiseman emphasized that the team is focused and ready despite the complexity of launching millions of pounds of propellant and hardware on a mission of this scale.