Artemis II Mission Successfully Launched to Send Humans to the Moon for the First Time in Half a Century

Artemis II launched four astronauts toward the Moon from Kennedy Space Center, Florida on 2026-04-01 at 18:35 ET aboard the Orion spacecraft.

Crew: NASA astronauts Reed Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen.

Orion deployed its solar arrays; about 49 minutes after launch the first burn placed the vehicle into an Earth-centered elliptical orbit, and the crew remained in high Earth orbit for about one day.

Four CubeSats from Argentina, Germany, Korea and Saudi Arabia were deployed from the upper stage ring, and the crew performed a manual control demonstration to test Orion's maneuverability.

If systems are nominal, a lunar transfer burn is planned on April 2, with a Moon flyby on April 6 to observe the far side (including terrain revealed by shadows); return is planned by Pacific Ocean splashdown. NASA says the mission will demonstrate life support on an orbital mission and lay groundwork for a sustained presence on the Moon, and the mission was broadcast live on YouTube.