Liftoff! NASA’s Artemis II Launch Sends Astronauts Around the Moon for First Time in 50 Years

The SLS rocket lifted off with Artemis II from Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center on April 1, 2026, at 6:35 p.m. EDT.

Four crew members — Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen — are aboard the Orion spacecraft.

The mission is a roughly 10-day test flight to validate critical systems, perform manual operations, and travel farther than humans have in decades.

Artemis II's trajectory will take the crew around the Moon.

It is the first crewed mission to fly around the Moon in more than 50 years.