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 exercise Orion’s systems in deep space as the crew follows a free‑return trajectory behind the moon and returns for splashdown about nine and a half days after launch.
Mission overview and purpose
Artemis II is a test mission designed to carry humans farther from Earth than anyone has traveled since Apollo. The flight is expected to reach a maximum distance of about 252,000 miles as Orion loops around the far side of the moon. It will not include a lunar landing; instead, the mission will validate critical systems — communications, navigation, propulsion, life support and manual control — needed for future lunar surface missions and longer-duration operations.
The plan calls for a roughly April 1–10 flight. After initial checks in Earth orbit, an on‑time trans‑lunar injection burn will send Orion toward the moon, followed by about a four‑day coast to the lunar vicinity before the return trajectory and splashdown.
Crew and hardware
The four-person crew comprises Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Christina Koch and Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen of Canada. Koch holds the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman (328 days). Hansen is set to be the first Canadian to travel beyond low Earth orbit.
The vehicle stack is the 322‑foot tall SLS rocket, using twin extended shuttle-era solid rocket boosters and an interim cryogenic propulsion stage (ICPS) to place Orion into a highly elliptical test orbit before trans‑lunar injection. The astronauts wore orange Orion Crew Survival System suits for ascent and entry; these custom suits are designed to provide worst‑case protection during a deep‑space mission.
Key timeline and milestones
– 6:35 p.m. EDT: Liftoff from Pad 39B.
– During ascent the twin solid rocket boosters and adapter jettison fairings separated as planned.
– About 6:42–6:46 p.m.: Core stage separation and transition to upper‑stage operations.
– Orion’s four solar array wings deployed and began providing power.
– First ICPS burn (~50 minutes after liftoff): the ICPS fired to raise the orbit’s low point (perigee) to roughly 115 miles, establishing a safe, highly elliptical parking orbit for system checks.
– Around the same time controllers cleared a temporary communications glitch; later the spacecraft switched primary tracking from NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellites to the Deep Space Network (DSN) — the first time in about 50 years a crewed spacecraft required that transition.
– Second ICPS burn (apogee raise, about two hours after liftoff): an approximately 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 roughly a 24‑hour highly elliptical orbit for extended systems checkout.
– Around 10:01 p.m. EDT: Orion separated from the ICPS. The detached ICPS served as a target for maneuverability demonstrations and later executed a disposal burn to enter a destructive reentry over the Pacific Ocean.
– 10:10 p.m. EDT: Crew conducted the first manual piloting of Orion during demonstrations intended to verify procedures needed for future rendezvous and docking with a lunar lander. The crew handed control back 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 confirm proper separation and maneuvering away from the spent upper stage.
– 11:44 p.m. EDT: The ICPS upper stage performed a disposal burn and was placed on a reentry trajectory to burn up over the Pacific.
On-orbit checks and observations
During the first 24 hours in Earth orbit the crew ran thorough checkouts of communications, navigation, propulsion, life‑support and waste systems before heading farther from home. The chosen launch timing gave the astronauts unique viewing opportunities, including two moonrises and views of a lunar eclipse and the sun’s corona from space.
Prelaunch troubleshooting and in‑flight issues
In the days and hours before launch NASA teams worked through several technical issues that had caused previous delays, including hydrogen leaks and an upper‑stage propellant pressurization problem discovered during dress rehearsals. On launch day engineers also troubleshot a flight termination system verification issue and investigated a temperature reading from a battery on the launch abort system; NASA judged the battery reading to be likely an instrumentation fault that did not constrain liftoff.
During the mission flight controllers addressed a temporary communications loss and a controller issue with the capsule’s toilet; both were resolved or under active troubleshooting and were not considered mission‑threatening.
Public response and coverage
Thousands of spectators gathered around the Cape Canaveral area and viewing parks to watch the countdown and launch. Major outlets including CBS News provided live coverage. President Trump publicly congratulated the Artemis II team and crew during an address on unrelated matters.
Why Artemis II matters
As the first crewed flight of SLS, Artemis II is a pivotal operational test on the path toward NASA’s broader Artemis goals: returning humans to the lunar surface, building sustainable lunar operations, and preparing for future crewed missions to Mars. Demonstrating Orion and SLS performance in deep space will pave the way for follow‑on flights that aim for lunar landings and longer‑term infrastructure on the moon.