Artemis II

Artemis II carried four astronauts on a journey around the Moon.

Artemis II is expected to launch on Wednesday, April 1 at 18:24 Florida time.

NASA is using Artemis II to reduce mission risk by testing each phase separately.

Artemis II will make its closest flyby of the Moon at 4,000 to 6,000 miles above the lunar surface on Day 6.

Artemis II is planned to splash down in the Pacific Ocean after a skip reentry.

Artemis II will break the Apollo 13 crew’s 1970 record to become the mission that has traveled farthest from Earth.

Jeremy and Christina are the mission engineers for Artemis II.

The Artemis II crew will transition Orion’s cabin from launch mode to living mode during the first 24 hours of flight.

Southern Launch will deliver its Artemis II tracking role through partners at Raven Defense as NASA assesses the broader aerospace community’s tracking capabilities for future Moon and Mars missions.

All cryogenic stages of the Space Launch System rocket transitioned to replenish mode during the Artemis II launch countdown.

Artemis II will take the crew approximately 4,600 miles beyond the far side of the Moon.

The launch range had resolved an issue and was go for the Artemis II launch.

Southern Launch has been selected to support tracking of NASA’s Artemis II Orion mission from South Australia.

The Space Launch System used for Artemis II is 98 meters tall.

The Artemis II launch will produce nearly 4 million kilograms of thrust.

The Artemis II launch countdown entered a planned 1-hour and 10-minute hold.

The Artemis II crew will perform manual handling maneuvers of the Orion capsule during the lunar flyby to test its responsiveness for future docking operations with the Starship Human Landing System and the lunar Gateway station.

NASA is tracking one minor non-conformance issue during the Artemis II countdown.

Orion’s life-support system will remove carbon dioxide, regenerate air, remove humidity, and maintain pressure during Artemis II.