NASA will hold a major press briefing at Kennedy Space Center on March 13, 2026, to update the world on Artemis II, the agency’s first crewed mission to travel to the Moon in more than half a century. The briefing, scheduled to begin at 12:30 a.m. Indian Standard Time (IST), follows a Flight Readiness Review — a final assessment to decide whether the mission is ready to proceed. The event will be streamed live on NASA’s YouTube channel.
Artemis II will carry astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch of NASA, together with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, on a roughly 10-day mission that will loop around the Moon and return to Earth. The flight will not land on the lunar surface but will send the crew farther from Earth than any previous crewed mission. Victor Glover is set to become the first person of colour, Christina Koch the first woman, and Jeremy Hansen the first non-American to travel into deep space and reach the Moon’s vicinity.
The program has faced repeated delays. After a successful wet dress rehearsal last month — when the rocket was fueled and a launch countdown was simulated — engineers discovered a problem with helium flow in the rocket’s upper stage. NASA rolled the vehicle back into the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) for repairs, moving the earliest possible launch window to no earlier than April 2026.
Artemis II’s schedule has shifted several times: it was initially targeted for late 2024, then moved to September 2025, and later to early 2026 after issues with the Orion capsule’s heat shield and life-support systems. These technical setbacks come amid intense international interest in returning humans to the Moon, with NASA working alongside partners and racing, in some respects, against other national programs.
If Artemis II proceeds as hoped, the mission will validate Orion’s crew systems and life-support capabilities in deep space and demonstrate safe high-speed re-entry — the spacecraft is expected to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere at roughly 40,000 km/h. Those tests are critical before any crewed lunar landing attempt on a subsequent flight.
Beyond Artemis II, NASA has said it plans to increase the cadence of lunar missions, aiming for at least one lunar surface landing per year after Artemis‑IV in 2028. The longer-term ambition remains to use the Moon as a proving ground and stepping stone for the first crewed mission to Mars.
The March 13 briefing will be closely watched for any confirmation that repairs are complete and that an April 2026 launch window is likely. For now, Artemis II represents a crucial test of hardware, crews, and procedures that will shape the next chapter of human exploration beyond low Earth orbit.
Original Source: https://kashmirreader.com/2026/03/12/nasa-to-reveal-when-artemis-ii-will-launch-to-moon-after-multiple-delays/
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Publish Date: 2026-03-12 02:19:00
