NASA’s Artemis II mission launched on April 1, 2026, at 00:35 CEST from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, sending four astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft on a 10-day journey around the Moon. The crew includes NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman as commander, Victor Glover as pilot, Christina Koch as mission specialist, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
This marks the first crewed flight of Orion and the first human mission beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972. The spacecraft, powered by the European Service Module (ESM) provided by ESA, features four solar arrays for electricity, life support systems for air, water, and temperature control, and 33 engines including a repurposed Space Shuttle main engine for propulsion.
About 20 minutes after liftoff, the ESM’s solar arrays deployed, enabling system tests in high Earth orbit. On the second day, the main engine performed a trans-lunar injection burn, placing Orion on course for a lunar flyby, reaching up to 4,700 miles from the Moon’s surface before a free-return trajectory back to Earth. The crew will test navigation, communications, and manual controls during the outbound leg.
ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher noted that this is the first time astronauts are flying aboard Orion, building on Artemis I and highlighting international cooperation. Following the flyby, the ESM will separate and burn up in the atmosphere, with Orion splashing down in the Pacific Ocean off San Diego for recovery by the U.S. Navy.