Artemis II: Moon Mission Updates – Launch, Crew & Space Race News

The Space Launch System rocket for the Artemis II mission arrived at Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida early Friday morning, completing a roughly 10-hour overnight journey from the Vehicle Assembly Building. The rollout, which began around 12:20 a.m. EDT, was delayed by approximately 4.5 hours due to high winds, according to NASA and Space.com.

The Artemis II mission, planned for a launch no earlier than April 1, 2026, will be the first crewed flight of the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft. It aims to send four astronauts – Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen – on a lunar flyby, orbiting the Moon at a distance of approximately 6,400 miles (10,300 kilometers). The ten-day mission represents a key step in NASA’s Artemis program, intended to establish a sustained human presence on the Moon and eventually prepare for missions to Mars.

The rocket underwent maintenance inside the Vehicle Assembly Building after an initial rollout to the pad in January. Ground teams will now prepare the rocket and launch pad systems for the April launch window. NASA finalized the rollout and the crew has begun a quarantine period, according to NASA.gov.

This mission holds several firsts: Victor Glover will become the first person of color, Christina Koch the first woman, and Jeremy Hansen the first non-U.S. Citizen to venture beyond Earth orbit and into the vicinity of the Moon. The Artemis II flight will be the first crewed deep-space mission since Apollo 17 in 1972.

The Artemis II mission builds upon the success of the uncrewed Artemis I flight in 2022, demonstrating the capabilities needed for deep space exploration. The Orion spacecraft, developed by Lockheed Martin, is designed to carry and sustain the crew during the mission and return them safely to Earth. The spacecraft will re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere at approximately 25,000 miles per hour (40,000 km/h), making it both the furthest and fastest crewed space mission to date.

As of March 22, 2026, NASA has not commented on the potential impact of the delayed rollout on the April 1 launch date.