Artemis II Mission timeline
Apr 1 · Flight Day 1
Liftoff & Earth orbit
The SLS rocket launches at 6:35 PM EDT. The solar arrays now begin their deployment process. Orion spacecraft achieves high Earth orbit to conduct system testing. The pilots will demonstrate manual control abilities by targeting the ICPS system during their practice session.
Apr 2 · Flight Day 2
Translunar injection burn
The main engine will operate for 5 minutes and 50 seconds starting at 7:49 PM EDT. The Orion spacecraft will break Earth orbit which marks the first human spaceflight to do so since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. The spacecraft is named “Integrity.”
Apr 3–5 · Days 3–5
Deep-space transit
The schedule includes crew exercises and CPR drills and spacesuit checks and deep-space toilet testing and manual piloting demonstration and final lunar flyby science briefings.
Apr 6 · Day 6 — TODAY
Historic lunar flyby
Flyby window: 2:45–9:40 PM EDT. Closest approach at ~7:02 PM (4,070 miles). Distance record broken at 1:56 PM. 40-min comm blackout behind the Moon (~5:47 PM). Crew photographs ~35 science targets including Orientale basin.
Apr 7–9 · Days 7–9
Return transit
The lunar gravity slingshot operates as a system which propels Orion back to Earth through a free-return trajectory. The system functions without needing any engine activation.
Apr 10 · Day 10
Splashdown
The Pacific Ocean off San Diego, California shows its waters at 8:07 PM Eastern Daylight Time. The spacecraft will bypass reentry at 30 times the speed of sound because its heat shield temperatures reach above 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
Crew
Artemis II Crew Members:
Reid Wiseman (Commander – NASA): A U.S. Navy pilot who previously served as a flight engineer on the International Space Station.
Victor Glover (Pilot – NASA): A U.S. Navy aviator and the first person of color to fly on a lunar mission.
Christina Koch (Mission Specialist – NASA): An engineer who holds the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman.
Jeremy Hansen (Mission Specialist – CSA): A Canadian Space Agency astronaut making his first spaceflight.
Liftoff and the journey begins
The NASA Artemis II mission began on April 1 2026 when its SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft launched from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39B. The mission which lasts ten days will take NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman and Victor Glover and Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen to the first crewed mission beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in December 1972.
The Orion crew deployed its four solar array wings after reaching orbit which created a wingspan of roughly 63 feet. NASA The crew themselves named the capsule Integrity.
Breaking free of Earth’s gravity
The mission management team approved the launch at 0200 UTC on 16 April 2020 when Orion performed its main engine test which lasted for five minutes and fifty seconds starting at 1949 UTC. The engine operated at its maximum capacity of 6700 pounds thrust and consumed about 1000 pounds of fuel during the engine operation.
“Today, for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972, humans have departed Earth orbit,” NASA said Dr. Lori Glaze, acting associate administrator at NASA Headquarters. The spacecraft Orion now follows a “free return trajectory” which allows it to complete its mission because the Moon’s gravitational pull and orbital dynamics will bring the capsule back to Earth without requiring engine operation.
Deep-space days: testing the spacecraft
The period from the launch to the flyby operation has undergone essential test activities. The mission is currently conducting its first human crew test of the Orion capsule’s life support systems which include carbon dioxide scrubbers and the crew members used their spacesuits during the mid-flight emergency procedure which future astronauts will need to practice.
Mission pilot Victor Glover used manual operations to steer the capsule while assessing its performance capabilities which he needed to complete his upcoming lunar landing vehicle docking test. NASA’s Universal Waste Management System the first deep-space toilet was also put through its paces, though it encountered a few minor hiccups along the way.
Mission control decided to dismiss the spacecraft’s initial scheduled outbound trajectory correction burn because the current flight path already met their required accuracy standards. A subsequent shorter burn was later completed to fine-tune the approach.
The mission features a delightful detail which consists of its zero-gravity indicator “Rise” that functions as a mascot of the Moon who wears Earth as a baseball cap which 8-year-old Lucas Ye of Mountain View California created for his project.
Today: the historic lunar flyby
The crew entered the lunar sphere of gravitational influence at approximately 12:41 AM EDT on April 6 NASA officially becoming the first people to reach lunar space since the Apollo era. The flyby window for today opens between 2:45 and 9:40 PM EDT with a full schedule of activities.
The Artemis II crew will break the Apollo 13 distance record when they reach their maximum distance of 252,760 miles from Earth at 1:56 PM which Apollo 13 achieved 248,655 miles. At 7:02 PM Orion will reach its closest point which is 4,066 miles from the Moon’s surface and will provide the crew their first full-disk view of the Moon which contains both polar regions that no other person has ever viewed. The planned communications blackout will commence at 5:47 PM when Orion moves behind the Moon and it will continue until 40 minutes later because the lunar surface obstructs radio signals that transmit to Earth.
The scientific program requires extensive research work because it includes thirty designated research sites which scientists will study throughout their investigation. The Orientale basin, which contains a crater that extends 600 miles across the Moon’s near and far sides, is studied by scientists who investigate its 3.8 billion-year-old formation. The crew will examine lunar surface color differences which contain valuable information about mineral content because human eyes possess superior detection abilities compared to satellites. The team also plans to establish the “Earthrise” photograph which Apollo 8 first recorded as their project goal.
The road home and what comes next
The mission will conclude with a Pacific Ocean splashdown near San Diego on April 10 at 8:07 PM EDT. The Orion spacecraft will enter Earth’s atmosphere during its NPR Reentry mission at speeds exceeding 30 Mach, which will cause its outer surface to reach temperatures above 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The Orion heat shield serves as a critical element in the mission because it demonstrated unanticipated erosion during Artemis I’s uncrewed reentry test in 2022. The post-flight inspections discovered locations where the ablative AVCOAT material experienced greater erosion than the preflight models had anticipated. The entire mission will focus on testing how the heat shield handles its current mission with an active crew on board.
The primary objective of the NASA Artemis II test flight is to establish Orion spacecraft certification for upcoming crewed Moon missions, which will occur after the test flight. “The Orion testing process will take 10 days to complete, which will enable astronaut crews to explore the Moon confidently,” NASA said through its Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya. The upcoming Artemis III mission plans to conduct astronaut landings at the lunar south pole.
Four astronauts currently orbit the Moon while humans have returned to deep space travel after an absence of more than 50 years.
