After years of careful preparation and testing, NASA is finally about to send a group of astronauts to fly around the moon.
The Artemis 2 mission will mark the first human landing on the moon since the end of the Apollo program in 1972, a major milestone in returning to the lunar surface. The four astronauts may also set a new record for the furthest distance humans have traveled from Earth.
“Fifty-three years ago, humans left the moon and did not return. Now we are going back,” NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya said at a news conference.
“The challenge of expanding the frontier will be won by the craftsmen, engineers, and industry of free nations…working together to build something that no nation can build alone. To all the children who will watch Artemis 2, you need to hear our voices. This optimistic vision of the future is not naive. It can be built.”
You can watch the launch live via the YouTube embed below:
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The launch is scheduled for Wednesday, April 1, 2026 at 22:24 UTC (6:24 PM ET), with mission commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen aboard the Orion spacecraft for a 10-day lunar cruise. This will be the first time astronauts have flown beyond low Earth orbit since the Apollo era.
The test flight will be the first manned launch of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion capsule. The mission’s main purpose is to evaluate how well Orion works under real-world conditions, including life support, navigation and communications systems – essentially a dress rehearsal for future missions to the moon.
Artemis 1, the program’s first mission, is an unmanned exercise to solve as many problems as possible before launching humans into the spacecraft – carefully laying the stepping stones to bring humans back to the moon.
The next stepping stone, Artemis 2, experienced some delays – the original February launch date was pushed back due to a liquid hydrogen leak, and then further delayed due to helium flow issues.
Other problems could prevent a rocket from launching — for example, if weather conditions are unsafe. However, it looks like eventually all systems will support Artemis II.
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“All of our planned work is complete. Preparations for the launch countdown are complete,” launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson said. “All signs point to us being in very, very good shape when we start counting.”
During the mission, when Orion orbits the moon on April 6, astronauts are expected to be farther from Earth than any human being has ever been in history, surpassing Apollo 13’s record of 400,171 kilometers (248,655 miles).
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“This is an opportunity … for our crews to go further than anyone else,” said Chief Flight Director Emily Nelson.
In addition to testing the spacecraft, the mission will provide insights into how astronauts operate in deep space for extended periods of time, including communications delays and navigation well beyond the low-Earth orbit occupied by the International Space Station.
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The next phase, Artemis III, is currently planned for 2027. It will be conducted closer to Earth, using an SLS rocket to launch the crew in the Orion capsule into low-Earth orbit to test rendezvous and docking procedures with commercial spacecraft for future lunar landing operations.
The fourth phase of the program, Artemis IV, is currently planned for early 2028. NASA said the mission’s goal is to conduct a crewed landing near the moon’s south pole, where astronauts will conduct scientific observations and collect samples.
These future missions depend on Artemis 2, a new demonstration of the ability to send humans to the moon and back home safely again.
“This is an incredible time for Artemis Generation, we’re excited and we’re ready to press,” Nelson said.
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