Manned Mission to the Moon for First Time in Nearly Half a Century — NASA's Orion Launch Succeeds (Artemis II)

NASA successfully launched the SLS rocket carrying the crewed Orion spacecraft on April 1.

Artemis II will send four astronauts on an Orion flyby of the Moon and return to Earth after about ten days.

The launch had been delayed from 2024 due to development issues and a fuel leak pushed a February 2026 attempt into April.

Artemis III's plan was changed from a crewed landing to docking tests, and a crewed lunar landing is now planned for Artemis IV in 2028.