The Artemis II crew—NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen—are poised to launch as early as Wednesday, April 1 at 6:24 p.m. Eastern. If successful, this flight would mark the first time humans have traveled to the moon in more than 50 years. (Image credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA/Getty Images)
Before leaving the lunar surface in December 1972, Apollo 17 commander Gene Cernan scratched his daughter’s initials into the moon and offered a farewell: “We leave as we came and, God willing, as we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind.” More than half a century later, NASA may be about to fulfill that promise.
Watch the launch live stream, set to start at 12:50 p.m. Eastern time.
As early as Wednesday evening, an Orion capsule atop a 322-foot rocket will lift off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. If all goes to plan, the capsule will carry four astronauts on a mission that will take them farther from Earth than any humans have flown, tracing a figure-eight path around the moon and returning home. The voyage is expected to last just under 10 days.
Artemis II is the first crewed launch in NASA’s Artemis program, following the uncrewed Artemis I test flight in 2022, which sent an empty Orion capsule on a three-week trip around the moon before splashing down in the Pacific. This crewed mission will first orbit Earth to verify key spacecraft systems, then proceed on the lunar loop that rehearses operations needed for future landings.
The mission is a critical step toward NASA’s longer-term goals: returning humans to the lunar surface and establishing a sustained presence there with international partners, including eventual lunar bases.
At a Tuesday press briefing, Mark Burger of the Space Force’s 45th Weather Squadron said there was an 80% chance of favorable weather for launch day, though conditions will continue to be monitored. Jeff Spaulding, senior NASA test director, said the reality of sending humans to the moon would likely hit everyone in the final minute before ignition. “That’s when it really starts to hit home that, you know, we really got a shot at making it today,” he said. “And I know a lot of people are thinking the same thing, because you can hear a pin drop in that firing room as you count from 10 down to T‑zero. After that, though, it may get a little bit noisier.”
