PRE-LAUNCH | ARTEMIS II
NASA

ARTEMIS II

FIRST CREWED LUNAR MISSION IN OVER 50 YEARS

T-MINUS
INITIALIZING...
TARGET: Wednesday, April 1, 2026 | NET (No Earlier Than)
T-6h
Propellant tanking begins
T-3h
Crew suit-up
T-2h
Crew departs for pad
T-1h
Crew ingress Orion
T-30m
Terminal countdown
T-10m
Final GO/NO-GO polls
T-31s
Automated sequence
T-0
LIFTOFF
BACKUP LAUNCH WINDOWS
Apr 2
Apr 3
Apr 4
Apr 5
Apr 6
4
Astronauts
~10
Days
~392K
km from Earth
384K
km remaining
Years

Launch Pad 39B Weather

Kennedy Space Center, Florida

19.6°C
27.7 km/h
Gusts: 61.2 km/h
100%
GO
0 km/h Limit: 72 km/h
Overcast
WEATHER GO
1.7
QUIET
Wed
23°
19°
36.5km/h
Thu
22°
19°
29.9km/h
Fri
24°
19°
18.7km/h
Sat
25°
20°
20.1km/h
Sun
26°
20°
20.7km/h
Updated 0m ago

GO / NO-GO

Mission Readiness Assessment

100%
ALL SYSTEMS GO
MISSION READINESS
WEATHER
GO
AUTO
SOLAR WEATHER
GO
AUTO
VEHICLE
GO
GROUND SYSTEMS
GO
CREW HEALTH
GO
RANGE SAFETY
GO
FLIGHT SOFTWARE
GO
RECOVERY WEATHER
GO

The Mission

Artemis II will send four astronauts around the Moon aboard the Orion spacecraft, launched by the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. It will be the first crewed mission to venture beyond low-Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in December 1972.

The ~10 day mission will fly a free-return trajectory, swinging around the far side of the Moon at an altitude of approximately 7,600 km above the lunar surface, reaching a maximum distance of ~392,000 km from Earth.

Historic Firsts

First woman beyond low-Earth orbit
Christina Koch
First person of color beyond low-Earth orbit
Victor Glover
First non-American on a lunar mission
Jeremy Hansen (CSA, Canada)
First humans beyond LEO since 1972
53+ years since Apollo 17
NASA TV — LIVE STREAM
RETURN TO THE MOON

First crewed mission beyond LEO
since Apollo 17 — December 19, 1972

53.3
19,469
1968 Apollo 8
1969 Apollo 11
1972 Apollo 17
2022 Artemis I
2025 Artemis II
53.3+
years since Apollo 17
4
crew vs 3 on Apollo
1st
woman beyond LEO
1st
person of color beyond LEO