Tonight is the night. After years of delays, engineering challenges, and immense anticipation, NASA is finally ready to send human beings beyond low Earth orbit for the first time in more than 50 years. The Artemis II mission is scheduled to launch at 6:24 PM Eastern Time on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This is not an April Fools’ joke — it is one of the most significant moments in the history of human spaceflight.
The Crew of Artemis II
Four astronauts will make history aboard the Orion spacecraft tonight:
- Commander Reid Wiseman (NASA): A veteran naval aviator and astronaut who previously spent 165 days aboard the International Space Station, Wiseman will lead the mission.
- Pilot Victor Glover (NASA): Glover flew to the ISS aboard SpaceX Crew Dragon in 2020 and spent six months aboard the station. Tonight he will become the first person of colour to travel beyond low Earth orbit.
- Mission Specialist Christina Koch (NASA): Koch holds the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman, having spent 328 days aboard the ISS. She will become the first woman to travel to the vicinity of the Moon.
- Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen (Canadian Space Agency): Hansen will become the first Canadian and first non-American to travel to the Moon’s vicinity — a milestone for international human spaceflight.
What Will the Mission Actually Do?
Artemis II is a crewed test flight rather than a landing mission. The crew will fly a free-return trajectory around the Moon — a path that uses the Moon’s gravity to sling the spacecraft back towards Earth without requiring a large engine burn. At its farthest point, the crew will travel approximately 6,400 kilometres beyond the far side of the Moon, farther into deep space than any human being has ever gone.
The mission is designed primarily to test the Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System rocket in a deep-space environment with humans on board. NASA engineers will collect critical data on how the systems perform under real mission conditions, including life support, navigation, communication, and the thermal protection system that will protect the crew during re-entry.
The mission is expected to last approximately ten days before the crew splashes down in the Pacific Ocean.
Why This Mission Matters
The last time humans left Earth’s orbit was December 1972, when Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt departed the lunar surface aboard Apollo 17. For more than five decades, human space exploration has been limited to low Earth orbit — the altitude at which the ISS orbits, roughly 400 kilometres above Earth. Artemis II breaks that barrier for the first time in a generation.
The broader Artemis programme aims to return humans to the lunar surface, establish a sustainable presence on and around the Moon, and ultimately use the Moon as a staging point for future crewed missions to Mars. Artemis II is a critical step on that journey — not just technically, but symbolically. It proves that the hardware works, the crew is ready, and the programme is real.
The Space Launch System and Orion Spacecraft
Artemis II will launch on the Space Launch System, the most powerful rocket NASA has ever built. The SLS generates 8.8 million pounds of thrust at liftoff — more than the Saturn V rocket that carried the Apollo astronauts to the Moon. The Orion spacecraft, which sits atop the SLS, is designed specifically for deep-space missions, with a larger crew capsule than the Apollo command module and advanced life support systems capable of sustaining four astronauts for weeks.
Weather Forecast for Launch
US Space Force weather forecasters have given an 80 per cent probability of favourable conditions for launch, though teams are monitoring cumulus cloud development and the “Thick Cloud Rule” — a launch constraint that prohibits liftoff if certain cloud conditions exist that could increase the risk of a lightning strike on the vehicle. The launch window opens at 6:24 PM ET and remains open for approximately two hours.
How to Watch
NASA will provide free live coverage of the Artemis II launch on NASA TV, NASA’s website (nasa.gov), and the NASA+ streaming platform. YouTube coverage will also be available. The launch coverage begins at approximately 1:00 PM ET, giving viewers several hours of pre-launch programming including updates from the launch director and crew, weather briefings, and explanations of mission milestones.
If you can only watch one space event this year — or this decade — make it this one. History is being made tonight.