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NASA Targets April 1st for Historic Artemis II Moon Mission
NASA is setting its sights on a momentous return to lunar exploration, announcing an ambitious target launch date of April 1st for the Artemis II mission. This long-awaited journey will send four astronauts on a daring trip around the moon, marking the first time humans have ventured to our celestial neighbor in over half a century.
Lori Glaze, acting associate administrator of NASA’s Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, confirmed Thursday that preparations are well underway. “Everything is going pretty well,” Glaze stated at a news briefing, with teams on track to roll the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft back to the launch pad at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center on March 19th.
Artemis II is poised to be a landmark mission, as it will be the inaugural flight for NASA’s powerful SLS rocket and Orion capsule with a human crew onboard. The 10-day mission will see NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, and Victor Glover, alongside Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, circle the moon, venturing further from Earth than any humans before them.
The targeted liftoff is scheduled for 6:24 p.m. ET on April 1st. However, this date is contingent on the successful completion of rocket checkouts in the hangar and subsequent work at the launch pad.
The decision to proceed with an early April launch attempt came after a two-day flight readiness review, a crucial meeting where mission managers and top NASA officials formally certify the rocket and spacecraft for flight. Glaze noted that the astronauts themselves participated virtually in this review, offering their valuable perspectives. “Having them join us in this review really reinforced the importance of having open, honest discussions about our path forward and about the risk that we’re asking them to take,” she emphasized.
Currently, the crew is undergoing training at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston and is scheduled to enter quarantine there on Wednesday to minimize germ exposure before launch. If all proceeds as planned, the astronauts will then travel to Kennedy Space Center on March 27th, according to Shawn Quinn, manager of NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems Program.
The towering 322-foot SLS rocket has been undergoing repairs in its hangar since being rolled back from the launch pad on February 25th. This move followed a critical “wet dress rehearsal” fueling test on February 19th, which, despite being largely successful, revealed a blockage in the helium flow to part of the rocket’s upper stage. This issue necessitated the rollback for repairs and ruled out any launch opportunities in March.
Quinn confirmed that engineers have since replaced a faulty seal responsible for the helium blockage, installed fresh batteries on both the rocket and the Orion spacecraft, and are currently testing various booster systems.
The February 19th wet dress rehearsal was the second attempt to fully load the SLS rocket with over 700,000 gallons of cryogenic propellant. An earlier rehearsal that month was cut short due to a different problem: a hydrogen fuel leak from the rocket’s tail end, which also forced the cancellation of February launch windows.
NASA has identified launch opportunities from April 1st through April 6th, with April 2nd recently added after further analysis. An additional window is available on April 30th if needed. The agency has not yet disclosed potential launch availabilities beyond April in the event of further delays.
The SLS rocket and Orion capsule have previously completed one uncrewed flight around the moon, the Artemis I mission in 2022, which itself experienced a six-month delay due to hydrogen leaks.
In a significant update to its lunar program, NASA recently announced an overhaul to its Artemis schedule. The Artemis III mission, originally planned to land astronauts on the moon in 2028, is now slated for mid-2027.
This revised mission will remain in low-Earth orbit to conduct crucial technology demonstrations, including rendezvous and docking tests with commercially built lunar landers from SpaceX and Blue Origin. Following this, Artemis IV is set to launch in 2028 with the goal of landing astronauts on the moon.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman stated that these changes are designed to enhance safety and reduce delays, ultimately aiming to achieve President Donald Trump’s objective of returning astronauts to the moon and establishing a long-term human presence on its surface.