NASA was targeting an Artemis II launch on Thursday at 8:45am Adelaide time, with daily launch windows of two hours from 2–7 April Australian dates.
Orion will deploy its solar panels, manage cryogenic propellant temperature, and fire its engine to leave Earth’s gravity during Artemis II.
The Artemis II crew will spend about a week and a half in space.
The range is working an issue with the Flight Termination System for the Artemis II launch.
The Artemis II crew’s first rest period is split into two four-hour sleep periods separated by a wake period to monitor a perigee raise burn by the European Service Module.
Artemis II launched from NASA Kennedy Space Center at 6:35 p.m. ET (2235 UTC) on April 1, 2026.
Artemis II is a 10-day mission that will conduct a lunar flyby.
Artemis II remains in high Earth orbit for one full day before committing to the Moon-bound translunar injection.
Artemis II is the first mission to send humans beyond Earth orbit to the lunar vicinity since Apollo 17 in 1972.
Raven Defense activity in the Northern Hemisphere will be complemented by the Australian operations for Artemis II tracking.
Artemis II is intended to help enable future Moon landings and crewed Mars missions.
Artemis II is designed so that if Orion’s service module engine fails to fire for the return trip, the spacecraft will naturally return to Earth for a Pacific Ocean splashdown.
The closeout crew was still working to close the Launch Abort System hatch for Artemis II and was behind schedule.
The European Service Module provides Artemis II with 90 kilograms of oxygen, 240 kilograms of water, 33 motors, and a thermal control system for human life support.
Artemis II will test its life-support system by removing carbon dioxide, regenerating air, removing humidity and heat, and maintaining pressure.
The Artemis II launch window opens at 6:24 pm ET, or 2224 UTC.
Jeremy Hansen and Christina Koch will unstrap in zero gravity to test Orion’s Environmental Control and Life Support System during Artemis II.
Artemis II does not include a lunar landing.
Artemis II is a four-astronaut mission from NASA Kennedy Space Center.
Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen launched on Artemis II from Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center on April 1, 2026, at 6:35 p.m.