After over three years, it’s finally time for another Artemis launch!
(And the first “Launch Thread” of this community!)
| Scheduled for (UTC) | 2026-04-01, 22:35:12 |
|---|---|
| Scheduled for (local) | 2026-04-01, 18:35:12 (EDT) |
| Mission | Artemis II |
| Launch site | LC-39B, Kennedy Space Center, Florida, USA |
| Vehicle | SLS Block 1 |
| Commander | Reid Wiseman 🇺🇸 |
| Pilot | Victor Glover 🇺🇸 |
| Mission Specialist 1 | Christina Koch 🇺🇸 |
| Mission Specialist 2 | Jeremy Hansen 🇨🇦 |
| Target Orbit | High Earth Orbit, lunar free return trajectory |
Livestreams
| Stream | Link |
|---|---|
| NASA YouTube | launch, live mission coverage, postlaunch news conference, coast |
| NASA+ | launch |
| NASASpaceflight | stakeout, launch |
| Space Affairs | tanking, launch |
| SpaceflightNow | fueling, launch |
| The Launch Pad | launch |
| Everyday Astronaut | launch |
| International Rocket Launches | launch |
Stats
Sourced from NextSpaceflight:
☑️ 1st launch from LC-39B this year
☑️ 1232 days, 15:36:16 turnaround for this pad
☑️ 1st SLS launch this year, 2nd overall
☑️ 1st crewed launch of the Orion spacecraft, 3rd overall
☑️ 1st crewed launch beyond LEO since Apollo 17 in 1972, 10th crewed launch beyond LEO overall
Mission info
Artemis II will send four astronauts in the first crewed Orion capsule in a lunar free return trajectory for a 10-day mission. The commander of the mission is Reid Weisman (NASA), the pilot Victor Glover (NASA), and the two mission specialists are Christina Koch (NASA) and Jeremy Hansen (Canadian Space Agency, CSA). Christina Koch will become the first woman to venture beyond Low Earth Orbit, and Jeremy Hansen will become the first non-American to achieve the milestone. The Orion capsule used in this mission, CM-003, was named Integrity by the Artemis II astronauts.
Because of the hydrogen boil-off due to the increased time spent in a LEO parking orbit compared to Artemis I, the mission will use a multi-translunar injection (MTLI), or multiple departure burns, to perform the translunar injection burn. The burn will be partially completed by the ICPS 2nd stage before being fully completed by the European Service Module (ESM) on the following orbit.
Artemis II Cubesats
4 CubeSat missions were selected as secondary payloads on Artemis II. They will reside within the Orion Stage Adapter from which they will be deployed after Orion has separated.
The selected cubesats are:
- TACHELES from the German space agency DLR
- ATENEA from Argentina’s space agency CONAE
- K-RadCube from the Korea AeroSpace Administration
- Space Weather CubeSat-1 from the Saudi Space Agency
Feel free to post launch updates, discussions, questions, etc. in the comments!
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Oh fuck, Artemis is running on Windows 10…
Hopefully they opted into “extended support”. There’s a joke about the mission being delayed past the lifetime of the operating system in here somewhere…
Jeff Foust: https://bsky.app/profile/jfoust.bsky.social/post/3mieosgze3k2l
Artemis 2 weather forecast is 80% go for Wednesday. If launch slips: 70% go Thursday, 75% Friday, 70% Saturday.
Let’s hope the untested heat shield holds, despite its previous version blowing chunks in 100 places and melting 3 out of 4 key separation bolts during re-entry.
Can’t believe they actually put people on that thing.What are your thoughts on Eric Berger’s take on this? Is changing the reentry profile a reasonable solution?
I’m uncomfortable with the fact they put humans on a spacecraft without testing that exact build of heat shield and that exact re-entry profile with an unmanned craft beforehand.
Modifying the heat shield and re-entry profile and putting people on the very first flight with this new configuration doesn’t seem very safety-conscious.
What’s the difference between tanking and fueling? Might be a language issue, not a native speaker.
Also, I am entirely overwhelmed with all these livestreams all showing different views, my brain wants to watch them all at once. Fucking fomo.
between tanking and fueling?
Mostly two terms for the same process. Technically “tanking” might be slightly more accurate, as oxidiser has to be loaded into the tanks as well as fuel.
entirely overwhelmed with all these livestreams all showing different views
Yeah, we are definitely spoiled for choice on this launch :)
Nice. I have an alarm set. Thanks for the stream links!
Live view from Orion now showing the astronauts as they prepare for some manouvers.
And separation. Interesting to hear their commentary on the noise levels, one was “much quieter than in the sim.” The official broadcast includes the docking cam view.
ETA: More about the rendezvous target guides on the ICP. Someone even published files to 3D print yourself one.
SRB separation confirmed!
Countdown has resumed, new T-0 scheduled for 18:35:12 EDT.
Liftoff!
Holding at T-10 minutes.
The crew are en route to the pad.
Hell yes!
Looks like liquid hydrogen has been loaded on both stages, LOX load complete on the core stage, topping off the ICPS.
They are currently conducting proximity operations between Orion and ICPS.
I wish we could see the screens a bit better… :)
Orbital info from Jonathan McDowell:
https://bsky.app/profile/planet4589.bsky.social/post/3mii5fbohic2g
Integrity will reach a 70385 km apogee at about 1200 UTC Apr 2, before falling back to perigee where it will make the rocket burn to send it moonward; that burn due at about 2345 UTC Apr 2.
https://bsky.app/profile/planet4589.bsky.social/post/3miieglaq322a
Orion has made the USS2 burn to raise its perigee. ICPS remains in a 11 x 70358 km orbit; Orion now in a 118 x 70134 km orbit.
https://bsky.app/profile/planet4589.bsky.social/post/3miiehtrsvs2a
The ICPS stage has now made a disposal burn and will reenter over the Pacific east of Hawaii sometime around 2330 UTC Apr 2.
https://bsky.app/profile/planet4589.bsky.social/post/3miiel5szw22a
Four cubesats (from Germany, S Korea, Argentina, and Saudi Arabia) were ejected from the ICPS stage at about 0405 UTC.
Each cubesat will need to quickly make a perigee raising burn if they are not to reenter along with the ICPS, which seems a weird mission design choice.https://bsky.app/profile/planet4589.bsky.social/post/3miieln36z22a
Next major Artemis 2 milestone is a perigee-raise rocket burn carried out at 1130 UTC, near apogee. Resulting orbit will be around 191 x 70133 km.
I’d feel better if they’d push it off until at least tomorrow. April Fool’s day is too jinxy.
