National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Launches Artemis II Mission to the Moon

Key facts

• The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) launched the Artemis II mission on 1 April 2026 from Launch Complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida.
• The mission marks the first piloted moonshot in 53 years since the conclusion of the Apollo programme.
• The crew consists of Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).
• The Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, standing 322 feet tall, generated 8.8 million pounds of thrust to propel the Orion crew capsule into space.
• The mission is designed to travel a record distance of 252,000 miles from Earth, looping around the far side of the moon without landing.
• The Orion spacecraft features four solar array wings with a 63-foot wingspan to provide electrical power for life-support systems and avionics.
• The nine-and-a-half-day flight serves as a technical test to prepare for future missions to land astronauts on the moon in 2028.
• Jeremy Hansen is the first Canadian astronaut to travel beyond near-Earth orbit.
• The spacecraft successfully transitioned communications to the Deep Space Network (DSN), marking the first such switch for a crewed mission in 50 years.
• The mission is expected to conclude with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on 10 April 2026.