Kennedy Space Center, United States – NASA’s Artemis II mission lifted off on the evening of April 1, 2026, at approximately 6:35 p.m. Eastern Time (22:35 UTC), launching from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This crewed mission carries four astronauts on a roughly 10‑day voyage around the Moon and back.

The Space Launch System rocket propelled the Orion spacecraft into space with Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen aboard. The rocket’s powerful engines and side boosters lifted the crew into orbit as Earth’s atmosphere receded behind them.

Once in orbit, Artemis II will follow a free‑return trajectory that sends the spacecraft around the Moon’s far side before returning toward Earth. The mission will test Orion’s life support, communication, and navigation systems while the crew conducts system checkouts critical to future lunar landings.

This is the first crewed flight beyond low Earth orbit since the final Apollo mission in 1972 and represents a key step in NASA’s Artemis programme, which aims to return humans to the lunar surface and eventually send astronauts to Mars.

The four astronauts will travel farther from Earth than humans have in decades before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean upon completion of their mission later this month.

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