The Artemis II crew includes three NASA astronauts — Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch — and the Canadian Space Agency’s Jeremy Hansen. The four are slated to launch as early as Wednesday, April 1 at 6:24 p.m. Eastern time. If successful, it would mark the first time humans have visited the moon in more than 50 years. (Bill Ingalls/NASA/Getty Images)
Before taking his last steps on the moon, NASA astronaut Gene Cernan scratched his young daughter’s initials into the lunar dust and offered a parting thought for humanity: “We leave as we came and, God willing, as we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind.” That was December 1972. Now, more than half a century later, NASA may be about to fulfill Cernan’s wish.
Watch the launch live stream, set to start at 12:50 p.m. Eastern time, here.
As early as Wednesday at 6:24 p.m., an Orion capsule seated atop a 322-foot rocket will blast off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. If all goes according to plan, the capsule will carry four astronauts around the moon and back — sending humans the farthest they’ve ever been from Earth.
This mission is the first crewed launch in the Artemis moon 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 splashdown. Artemis II will first orbit Earth to check key spacecraft systems, then trace a figure-eight around the moon and return. The entire journey is expected to take just under 10 days.
Artemis II is a crucial step toward NASA’s goal of returning humans to lunar soil and eventually establishing a permanent lunar presence with international partners.
At a Tuesday press briefing, Mark Burger, launch weather officer with the Space Force’s 45th Weather Squadron, said there was an 80% chance of favorable conditions for launch day, though officials are closely monitoring the forecast.
Jeff Spaulding, senior NASA test director and a veteran of many launches, said the reality that humans would soon fly to the moon will likely hit 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. “You can hear a pin drop in that firing room as you count from 10 down to T‑zero. After that, though,” he added with a smile, “it may get a little bit noisier.”