Artemis II Launches, Sending Humans Into Deep Space Once Again
Artemis II has potential to make history!
*UPDATE* Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, and Mission Specialist Christina Koch from NASA, and Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen from the CSA (Canadian Space Agency) are officially on their way to the moon!
Artemis II is sending humans into deep space once again!!
Liftoff.
The Artemis II mission launched from @NASAKennedy at 6:35pm ET (2235 UTC), propelling four astronauts on a journey around the Moon.
Artemis II will pave the way for future Moon landings, as well as the next giant leap — astronauts on Mars. pic.twitter.com/ENQA4RTqAc
— NASA (@NASA) April 1, 2026
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I always hate it when Leslie goes on vacation because she brings us interesting topics with her expert analyses.
However…it allows me to write up her interesting topics!
Like Artemis II! No, I am not talking about my fabulous cat Artemis. She’s the queen, but no one tell her that NASA didn’t name the mission after her!
The launch team at @NASAKennedy are GO to begin filling the Artemis II rocket with fuel.
The official launch broadcast begins at 12:50pm ET (1650 UTC). Liftoff is scheduled for no earlier than 6:24 pm ET (2224 UTC). Tanking coverage can be found here: https://t.co/VVJqQrRz4a pic.twitter.com/tFoKsKxOvX
— NASA Artemis (@NASAArtemis) April 1, 2026
NASA plans to launch Artemis II tonight with a two-hour window opening at 6:24 PM ET.
NASA has a live blog with all the latest updates.
You can even watch all the operations live: NASA’s Artemis II Live Mission Coverage (Official Broadcast).
Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, and Mission Specialist Christina Koch from NASA, and Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen from the CSA (Canadian Space Agency) aim to make history as the first humans to travel the farthest from Earth. Leslie wrote in January:
Artemis II is NASA’s first crewed test flight of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft, a roughly 10‑day mission that will send four astronauts on a lunar flyby to validate life‑support, navigation, and other systems before future Moon landings. It is the first journey by humans to the vicinity of the Moon since the Apollo 17 mission.
Artemis II missed its February launch due to a hydrogen leak.
Fueling has been going well so far this morning. The weather also appears to be cooperating.
NASA hit a milestone at 12:23 PM ET:
Liquid oxygen (LOX) fast fill is now complete for the SLS (Space Launch System) upper stage, marking another major milestone in tanking operations. Teams have confirmed the upper stage is in good shape and are proceeding with the LOX vent and relief test. This step helps verify proper pressure regulation and ensures the system is ready to transition into topping and, later, replenish operations.
The weather briefing went well, too:
NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, commander; Victor Glover, pilot; and Christina Koch, mission specialist; along with CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, mission specialist, were briefed on wind speeds, precipitation, lightning risk, and sea states for splashdown contingencies, ensuring all safety criteria are met before proceeding with launch operations.
Weather officials with NASA and the U.S. Space Force’s Space Launch Delta 45 are tracking 80% favorable conditions during the launch window, with primary concerns being the cumulus cloud rule, flight through precipitation rule, and ground winds.
With the weather briefing complete, the crew and ground teams remain aligned and ready to continue toward liftoff, keeping Artemis II on track for its historic mission to send astronauts around the Moon.
The cumulus cloud rule does not allow launches through cumulus-type clouds with tops higher than the 41 degree F. temperature level.
Now I get to bring out my weather geek! (I would have majored in meteorology, but chose Oklahoma State since I could live at home.) A cumulus cloud is the beginning stage of a storm, potentially growing into the cumulonimbus cloud.
The severe storms you experience usually come from cumulonimbus clouds. You can generally determine the power of the storm by looking at the echo tops, which measure the height of the cloud.
The higher the echo top, the stronger the storm.
Therefore, the cumulus cloud contains a lot of energy, meaning the rocket’s exhaust, which is huge, could create lightning.
The fueling process for the Artemis II rocket has picked up speed. The rocket is now more quickly filling with liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen.
When the core stage is completely full, it will contain 196,000 gallons of liquid oxygen and 537,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen. pic.twitter.com/wejiCveeNb
— NASA Artemis (@NASAArtemis) April 1, 2026
Teams continue to fill the core stage of the Artemis II rocket with liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen.
Fueling the upper stage of the rocket has started, as well. This is what will help Orion adjust its orbit shortly after liftoff.
— NASA Artemis (@NASAArtemis) April 1, 2026
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Comments
Drummers must be accompanied by an adult at all times… 🙂
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artimus_Pyle
Risk Assessments:
1. Loss of Crew Threshold: NASA’s official safety threshold for the Artemis program is 1 in 30— 96.7% safety.
2. Historical Context: Artemis is safer than the Apollo program, which had an estimated risk of 1 in 10—90% safety.
3. Launch Success: Artemis II rocket is safer than a true first flight rocket, but not 100% safe. Fingers crossed.
4. Tiger Woods is not the pilot. Adds 95.5% probability of avoiding a crash. (tooting horn)
Safely away!
And, evidently, they couldn’t get Tiger out of jail in time to suit up.
I am very uneasy about this…… I hope and pray all goes well….but….
Apollo 13 was a great launch and flight until the request to stir the cyro tanks. Trans-lunar injection is the next biggie… Very happy for superb launch but one and done missiles are so… yesterday. Impressed that command capsule has decompression bay so that whole ship doesn’t need decompression for EVA.
A team carefully selected to reflect a diverse cross section of society. Even including a Canadian. NASA is sure back on track. I don’t know about anyone else but I’m beaming with pride.
There are “Canadians” and then real Canadians. The latter is on the way to the moon. The former are just hosers.
Hey, take off.
Since there is no longer any surprise factor in red shirts, we just tap Canadians now instead.
What are the chances that they picked the 4 most qualified people and 2 of them or 50% of the crew tick an intersectional box. Truly our finest.
I wish the good luck and a safe trip but I have no confidence they’ll launch.
Well you were wrong
I didn’t say they wouldn’t launch. I just said I had no confidence they would launch,
I also watched the launch. It looked picture perfect to me,
I’ll be back for that live link in about 3 hours.
Of course they need a chick involved. I’ll be surprised if they don’t get lost
she said she would go but only if they promised not to
stare at her
I not sure how they expect to go 685,000 miles in 10 days when they have to stop to pee every 30 minutes. How many rest stops are there between here and the moon anyway?
Successful launch, Good for them!
And it’s OFF! Off the pad, that is, on its way to the moon.
I still get all “that’s incredible” when we launch stuff into space – especially going back around the moon.
Godspeed, lady and gentlemen!
Love your cat! Hope she enjoyed watching the launch in her honor.
Boy that was beautiful
Seriously, after all jokes aside. I watch the news pretty well everyday and I had no idea there was a manned launch scheduled. Talk about under the radar.
BBC Radio 4 is running a premiere of 𝘔𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘔𝘢𝘻𝘦 asking whether the Artemis 2 moon mission raises “𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴” — including whether humanity risks “𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯.”
Is the moon “stolen land” ?
Who are the moon’s indigenous peoples ?
Will Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Charles “Pete” Conrad, Alan Bean, Alan Shepard, Edgar Mitchell, David Scott, James Irwin, John Young, Charles Duke, Eugene “Gene” Cernan, and Harrison “Jack” Schmitt get rent money from those who follow ? .. or will only Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin be entitled ?
.. or will they all have to pay a storage fee for leaving those 6 lower stages of the LEMs on the moon ?
I wish the astronauts well and hope they return safely to Earth. I get that NASA wants to be relevant in the 21st century, but these “baby steps” return to the moon is wretchedly boring. Especially to those of us who vividly remember the 1960s forays into space. We’ve seen this show once before—just like a tv series rerun.
Current news
Problem with the titanium toilet.
Toilet is now working.
Astronauts feel cold.