NASA is preparing to launch the Artemis II mission on Wednesday evening, marking the first crewed flight to travel around the Moon in more than 50 years.
The mission is set to lift off from the Kennedy Space Center at 6:24 p.m. ET. Four astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft will embark on a 10-day journey around the Moon and back, traveling as far as 252,000 miles from Earth, farther than any humans have gone since the Apollo 13 mission in 1970.
“Artemis II waits on the pad, ready to carry astronauts potentially farther than any humans have traveled in more than half a century. The next era of exploration begins,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said ahead of the mission.
Tomorrow, we launch.
At sunset tonight, Artemis II waits on the pad, ready to carry astronauts potentially farther than any humans have traveled in more than half a century.
The next era of exploration begins. pic.twitter.com/vdABkjRrnf
— NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman (@NASAAdmin) April 1, 2026
The crew is led by Commander Reid Wiseman, a former Navy test pilot, joined by pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
“Nothing but gratitude for the men and women of this great nation. It is time to fly,” Wiseman said in a social media post.
Nothing but gratitude for the men and women of this great nation. It is time to fly. pic.twitter.com/n1TGuNt7s9
— Reid Wiseman (@astro_reid) March 31, 2026
In the final hours before blast off, the launch crew began standard preparations, including cooling the rocket’s plumbing and engine systems and loading propellants into the Space Launch System, which will carry Orion into space.
The countdown, which began Monday, entered a scheduled hold on Wednesday morning for final system checks.
“Engineers perform final configuration checks, review system health, and ensure all launch criteria are met. It’s also a window for resolving any minor issues without impacting the overall timeline,” NASA said in an update. “These holds are standard in complex missions like Artemis II, providing flexibility and confidence as we prepare to send astronauts on a journey around the Moon.”
NASA’s Artemis program aims to return astronauts to the Moon and establish a long-term human presence. A follow-up mission, scheduled for 2027, will test lunar landing systems developed by SpaceX and Blue Origin, with a goal of landing astronauts as early as 2028.