NASA’s Artemis 2 mission, the agency’s first human voyage to the Moon in more than 50 years, is set to lift off no earlier than April 1 at 6:24 p.m. EDT (2224 GMT) from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The crew of four — Commander Reid Williams, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen — will launch aboard the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and ride the Orion spacecraft on a round‑the‑moon test flight. Live coverage, provided by NASA and carried by Space.com, begins April 1 at 12:50 p.m. EDT (1650 GMT).
The mission will first reach low Earth orbit before performing a critical “trans‑lunar injection” (TLI) burn roughly 24 hours after liftoff. That burn will accelerate Orion onto a trajectory toward the Moon; a TLI is a targeted engine burn that sends a spacecraft out of Earth orbit and toward lunar distance. If all goes to plan, Artemis 2 will become the first crewed checkout of both the SLS rocket, which previously flew uncrewed on Artemis 1 in 2022, and the Orion spacecraft, which flew uncrewed to Earth orbit in 2014 and to lunar orbit on Artemis 1.
NASA and the Canadian Space Agency plan a strong multimedia presence during the flight. Exterior Orion cameras are expected to stream live video much of the mission, though image quality may vary with distance and bandwidth. The crew is also expected to communicate with Earth about once per day; precise timings for news briefings and public events will depend on mission progress.
A key highlight will be the several‑hour pass around the Moon’s far side, at distances as close as about 5,000 miles (8,000 kilometers). From Orion, the Moon will appear roughly the size of a basketball; the astronauts will observe surface color, lighting and geology during the flyby. The crew will also conduct biomedical experiments to study how human bodies respond to microgravity and higher radiation levels than those experienced aboard the International Space Station.
Artemis 2’s planned mission duration is about 10 days, ending with a splashdown off the coast of San Diego and recovery operations led by the U.S. Navy; NASA has not yet released exact recovery timing. Because Artemis 2 is validating new procedures and systems for the broader Artemis program, mission timelines and activities remain subject to change. Space.com will provide live updates and a running live blog of events as they occur.
Original Source: https://www.space.com/space-exploration/artemis/artemis-2-astronauts-are-launching-to-the-moon-on-april-1-watch-it-live
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Publish Date: 2026-03-28 15:30:00
