Artemis II lifted off April 1 from Kennedy Space Center’s Pad 39B at 6:35 p.m. EDT aboard NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS), carrying four astronauts in the Orion crew capsule on the agency’s first crewed SLS flight. The mission will test Orion’s systems in deep space as the crew loops behind the moon on a free-return trajectory and returns for splashdown about nine and a half days after launch.
Mission plan and significance
– Artemis II is a test flight to send humans farther from Earth than anyone since Apollo, reaching a planned maximum distance of about 252,000 miles as the crew flies around the far side of the moon. The mission will not land on the lunar surface but will validate communications, navigation, propulsion, life support and manual control capabilities needed for future lunar missions.
– The flight is slated to last roughly April 1–10, with a trans-lunar injection burn after initial on-orbit checks to send Orion toward the moon on a roughly four-day coast.
Crew and hardware
– Crew: Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Christina Koch, and Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen (Canada). Koch holds the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman (328 days). Hansen will be the first Canadian to travel beyond low Earth orbit.
– Launch vehicle: SLS rocket (322 ft tall), using twin extended shuttle-era solid rocket boosters and an interim cryogenic propulsion stage (ICPS) to deliver Orion to a high, highly elliptical orbit for tests before trans-lunar injection.
– Spacesuits: Crew wore orange Orion Crew Survival System suits for ascent and reentry; suits are custom-built for worst-case protection during a deep-space mission.
Key timeline and flight milestones
– 6:35 p.m. EDT: Liftoff from Pad 39B.
– Booster and fairing jettison: Twin solid rocket boosters and adapter jettison fairings separated as planned during ascent.
– ~6:42–6:46 p.m.: Core stage separation, transitioning to upper‑stage operations.
– Solar arrays deployment: Orion’s four solar array wings deployed and began providing power.
– First ICPS engine burn (~50 minutes after liftoff): The interim cryogenic propulsion stage fired to raise the orbit’s low point (perigee) to about 115 miles, a key step to establish a safe elliptical parking orbit.
– Temporary communications glitch (~50 minutes after liftoff) was resolved; later the spacecraft switched its primary tracking from NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellites to the Deep Space Network (DSN) — the first time in 50 years a crewed spacecraft needed that transition.
– Second ICPS burn (apogee raise, about two hours after liftoff): An ~18-minute burn raised the orbit’s high point (apogee) to about 43,760 miles — higher than any humans have flown since Apollo 17 in 1972 — creating a roughly 24‑hour highly elliptical orbit to allow systems checkout.
– Around 10:01 p.m. EDT: Orion separated from the ICPS upper stage. The detached ICPS served as a target for maneuverability demonstrations; after those tests it performed a disposal burn to set a reentry path and burned up over the Pacific Ocean.
– 10:10 p.m. EDT: Crew manually piloted Orion for the first time as part of demonstrations intended to verify capabilities needed to rendezvous and dock with a lunar lander on future missions.
– Crew returned control to Houston after roughly a 70‑minute demonstration and test period.
– 11:40 p.m. EDT: Orion’s main engine fired for about 15 seconds to ensure proper separation and maneuvering away from the spent upper stage.
– 11:44 p.m. EDT: ICPS upper stage performed a disposal burn to place it on a reentry trajectory to burn up over the Pacific.
On-orbit checks and observations
– The crew will spend the first 24 hours in Earth orbit running thorough checks of communications, navigation, propulsion, life support and waste systems before proceeding farther from home.
– Thanks to the launch timing, astronauts had unique viewing opportunities, including two moonrises and the ability to see a lunar eclipse and the sun’s corona from space.
Prelaunch issues and troubleshooting
– In the days and hours before liftoff NASA resolved several prior technical problems that had delayed the mission, including hydrogen leaks and an upper-stage propellant pressurization issue found during dress rehearsals.
– On launch day teams troubleshot a flight termination system verification issue and a temperature reading from a battery on the launch abort system; NASA determined the battery reading was likely an instrumentation fault and did not constrain liftoff.
– During the mission, flight controllers addressed a temporary communications loss and a controller issue with the capsule toilet; both were resolved or under active troubleshooting and not considered mission-threatening.
Public response and coverage
– Thousands of spectators gathered around the Cape Canaveral area and viewing parks. CBS News and other outlets provided live coverage of the countdown and launch.
– President Trump publicly congratulated the Artemis II team and crew during his address on unrelated matters.
Why Artemis II matters
– Artemis II is the first crewed flight of SLS and a critical test en route to NASA’s broader Artemis program goals: returning humans to the lunar surface, establishing sustainable lunar operations and eventually preparing for crewed missions to Mars. The mission’s success would pave the way for follow-on flights that aim for lunar landings and longer-term infrastructure on the moon.