Artemis II: Mission Timeline and Details

NASA is currently conducting the Artemis II mission, a crewed test flight that sends astronauts around the Moon to evaluate the performance of the Orion spacecraft in a deep space environment. The mission represents the first time humans have flown toward the Moon in more than 50 years.

The mission began on April 1, 2026, when the Orion spacecraft launched atop the Space Launch System rocket at 6:35 p.m. EDT from launch pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Initial Orbital Phase and Systems Testing

Following the launch, the rocket’s core stage engines shut down and separated from the upper stage approximately eight minutes into the flight. Once in space, the Orion spacecraft deployed four solar arrays to provide power and charge its onboard batteries.

Orion spent 90 minutes in its initial orbit before the second stage fired its engines twice to move the spacecraft into a high Earth elliptical orbit. The crew spent approximately one day in this orbit conducting system tests and a proximity operations demonstration, which involved manually flying the spacecraft.

Lunar Transit and Flight Path

Between April 2 and April 4, 2026, the crew began their outbound transit to the Moon. This phase was initiated by a translunar injection burn performed by the engine on Orion’s service module, which is the final major engine firing required to set the spacecraft on its trajectory.

The mission follows a figure-eight flight path covering a total distance of 685,000 miles. This trajectory allows the spacecraft to perform a lunar flyby before returning to Earth.

Mission Crew and Current Status

The Artemis II crew consists of four astronauts: NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen.

As of April 6, 2026, the mission is on Day 6. The spacecraft is currently engaged in lunar flyby activities. Due to these operations, NASA canceled the daily mission status briefing normally held at the Johnson Space Center in Houston for April 6, 2026.

Earlier in the mission, on April 4, 2026, mission specialist Christina Koch was documented observing Earth through one of the Orion cabin’s main windows as the crew traveled toward the Moon.

Mission Duration and Conclusion

The total journey is scheduled to last approximately 10 days. The mission will conclude with a safe splashdown in the ocean, where the Orion capsule will be recovered.

The primary objective of this flight is to verify that the spacecraft’s systems can support a crew in deep space, serving as a critical precursor to future missions intended to land humans on the lunar surface.