Artemis 2 launch - humans return to the Moon after 54 years

[mfb]

TL;DR

For the first time since 1972, humans will get close to the Moon again.

The Artemis program in the US aims to return to the Moon, land, and work on long-term expeditions and a permanent Moon base. At least for initial missions, astronauts will launch in an Orion capsule on top of the Space Launch System (SLS), and return in Orion. SLS and Orion made a first uncrewed test flight (Artemis I) in 2022, now it's time for a crewed test flight. It will only fly around the Moon once in a free-return trajectory without landing, but it will still be the first time since 1972 that humans leave low Earth orbit and go to the Moon.

Currently everything is on track for a launch in just under 10 hours. NASA is preparing the rocket for propellant loading. Countdown plan

NASA coverage

NASASpaceflight coverage

There is a 2 hour launch window each day for the next few days in case something leads to delays, NASA currently aims at the start of the first launch window. The crew will make one orbit in low Earth orbit, then raise its orbit to a highly eccentric orbit that needs one day for a revolution, and if nothing goes wrong it will then commit to fly to the Moon and back, which takes about a week.

 

[DaveC426913]

NASASpaceflight coverage

Is this a live channel that I can tune in to? It's 6 hours along and does not seem to be live footage. Or maybe it will be after the red carpet pre-show?

 

[berkeman]

Is this a live channel that I can tune in to?

CNN is carrying it live on TV (I'm in the US).

 

[berkeman]

What are the blue pouches in the armpits and on the ankles of the crew's suits? My Google-fu is failing me...

Photo credit: YouTube / VideoFromSpace

 

[mfb]

Is this a live channel that I can tune in to? It's 6 hours along and does not seem to be live footage. Or maybe it will be after the red carpet pre-show?

They switched to a new URL.

Hold at T-10 minutes, so far things look fine.

Edit: Go for terminal count, last 10 minutes started.

 

[mfb]

Liftoff!

 

[berkeman]

And MECO, everything nominal. Great.

 

[Filip Larsen]

What are the blue pouches in the armpits and on the ankles of the crew's suits?

I believe they are the built-in flotation device, one part of the many subsystems in the Orion Crew Survival System suit. I am not entirely sure about the blue leg attachments, but would venture the guess that they are bag containing survival gear for use after splash-down.

Regarding searching for info, try "orion crew survival system suit schematics".

Edit: added missing "system" to list of search terms.

 

[mfb]

Apogee raising burn is in progress. This will give them an orbital period of one day, enough time to fully test everything before committing to go to the Moon in 24 hours. There was a lot of discussion about the toilet status but it doesn't seem to be a major issue.

 

[mfb]

Timeline, updated for an April 1 launch.

NASA's website tracking Orion - seems to be a bit buggy, not all features work for everyone, but at least telemetry should show up.

Independent website tracking the mission

It's now 3 hours since launch. Orion will separate from the upper stage in about half an hour, maneuver next to it to test procedures used for docking, then do a short burn to get away from it.

In terms of orbital mechanics, nothing big happens for almost a day now. There is a very short perigee raise burn in 10 hours.

This is NASA's idea of giving us a live view of the capsule. Generally, I'm not a fan of their camera selection during the mission so far:

 

[DaveC426913]

They switched to a new URL.

Hold at T-10 minutes, so far things look fine.

Edit: Go for terminal count, last 10 minutes started.

Tx. I delayed going to my darts tourney until Artemis was safely in space.

 

[Filip Larsen]

Short write-up of the main events and testing goals from launch up until TLI:
https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/...on-with-a-fiery-send-off-from-cape-canaveral/

 

[PeterDonis]

Moderator's note: Several off topic posts have been deleted. Please keep discussion on topic. Thanks.

 

[PeterDonis]

And it looks like the TLI burn was successfully completed, so the astronauts are on their way to the Moon.

 

[mfb]

Toilet issues are fixed
The crew is using Outlook, and it's not working

 

[Filip Larsen]

Arstechnica: Four astronauts are now inexorably bound for the Moon

 

[256bits]

Artemis, twin of Apollo.
Fitting name for the second series of manned moon missions.

 

[256bits]

Some communication question and answer with the crew.

 

[256bits]

Some video you may, or may not have seen.

Always amazed at the size of the torch compared to the vehicle.

 

[mfb]

Hello world
The Sun is behind Earth, this is a picture of the night side. South is up. The big red area is the Sahara, at the bottom left you have Spain and Portugal, Antarctica is at the top right, South America is on the right side. The thin layer around Earth is our atmosphere. You can see the polar lights from both poles.

Preview (low resolution compared to the original):

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

What an awesome story!

 

[DaveC426913]

Artemis, twin of Apollo.
Fitting name for the second series of manned moon missions.

You'd think it'd be one of his children - or grandchildren... :)

 

[tech99]

I remember on the last time a manned space craft went behind the Moon, the radio signal did not restore as soon as the crew could see Earth, but was delayed by a few seconds. Presumably this is due to diffraction effect. I am interested to see if that repeats again on this mission.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Maybe I missed it but what is the purpose for this? What are we trying to learn?

 

[PeterDonis]

Maybe I missed it but what is the purpose for this? What are we trying to learn?

@mfb summarized this in the OP of the thread.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

@mfb summarized this in the OP of the thread.

Still unclear to me. I get the moon base, but what specifically is this mission's goal? Simply a starting point to prove we can fly around it again?

 

[DaveC426913]

Still unclear to me. I get the moon base, but what specifically is this mission's goal? Simply a starting point to prove we can fly around it again?

Iron out the Moonshot kinks before we attempt a landing?

 

[PeterDonis]

what specifically is this mission's goal?

Similar to the goal of Apollo 8, as compared to Apollo 11.

(And to date myself, I watched Apollo 11 on TV as a preschooler--a small black and white TV. I still remember seeing how the astronauts hopped around on the Moon.)

 

[Klystron]

Among many Artemis II websites this simple NASA program called Arow is my favorite for tracking mission progress.
https://www.nasa.gov/missions/artemis-ii/arow/

Suggest taking the tutorial on first use then one can easily switch among camera views and orbital veiws. Dashboard gauges provide near-time mission data including velocity and distances. While less spectacular than most news sites, Arow diligently tracks Earth, Moon and spacecraft relative positions.

[EDIT 20260402: Upon reading all the posts I see that @mfb links to Arow in post #10.]

 

[Ken Fabian]

Hello world
The Sun is behind Earth, this is a picture of the night side. South is up. The big red area is the Sahara, at the bottom left you have Spain and Portugal, Antarctica is at the top right, South America is on the right side. The thin layer around Earth is our atmosphere. You can see the polar lights from both poles.

Preview (low resolution compared to the original):

View attachment 370671

You sure the sun is behind the Earth in this pic? Remarkable colour photography of night-side if that is the case. More usually we would be seeing city lights.