Artemis II launch time, crew, route: Everything you need to know

Artemis II Mission | NASA is set to launch its first crewed Artemis mission at 6:24 pm EDT on April 1 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, which will be 3:54 am IST on April 2. The launch window is two hours, with backup launch opportunities available through April 6.

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The mission marks the first time astronauts will travel beyond low Earth orbit under NASA's Artemis programme, which aims to return humans to the Moon and eventually prepare for crewed missions to Mars.

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Artemis II: Crew and mission purpose

Artemis II will carry four astronauts - Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch of NASA, along with Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency - on a journey expected to last about 10 days.

The crew will fly aboard the Orion spacecraft, launched on NASA’s Space Launch System rocket. The mission will test Orion’s life-support systems with humans on board for the first time, a key step before future lunar landing missions.

Under Artemis, NASA plans to conduct increasingly complex missions to expand lunar exploration, with a focus on scientific discovery and building capabilities for deeper space travel.

Artemis II: Launch and early mission phase

After liftoff, the Orion crew capsule will separate from the rocket's upper stage and enter a highly elliptical orbit around Earth.

During the first one to two days, astronauts will remain in Earth orbit conducting system checks, including life support, propulsion, navigation, and communications, to prepare the spacecraft for deep space operations.

Journey to the Moon

Once these checks are completed, Orion will perform a translunar injection burn, sending the spacecraft out of Earth orbit and onto a trajectory toward the Moon.

Over the next two days, the crew will travel farther from Earth than any previous human spaceflight, while mission controllers monitor spacecraft performance and communications.

The route: a free-return trajectory

The spacecraft will pass behind the Moon on a "free-return" trajectory - a path that uses the Moon's gravity to bend Orion's course and send it back toward Earth without requiring major propulsion.

This phase marks the point at which the spacecraft reaches its maximum distance from Earth.

Return and re-entry

After the lunar flyby, the crew will spend several days returning to Earth, continuing deep-space tests of onboard systems, including power and thermal controls.

As Orion approaches Earth, it will re-enter the atmosphere at speeds of about 25,000 miles per hour (40,233 km/h), testing the capsule’s heat shield under high-energy conditions.

The mission is expected to conclude with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, where recovery teams will retrieve the crew.

What comes next

While Artemis II will not include a lunar landing, it will set the stage for future missions that aim to place astronauts on the Moon's south pole, a region believed to contain water ice and of interest for long-term exploration.

NASA said Artemis missions will focus on scientific objectives, including deploying instruments, studying the lunar surface, and collecting samples, while building systems needed for sustained human presence on the Moon and future missions to Mars.

According to NASA, under Artemis IV, astronauts are expected to travel to lunar orbit aboard Orion, dock with a lunar lander, and have two crew members descend to the Moon's surface before returning to orbit for the journey back to Earth. The mission is currently targeted for early 2028, after the first crewed landing planned under Artemis III for 2027.