Watch Artemis II Live: When is NASA's Historic Moon Launch?

We’ve passed another key moment on the Artemis II mission: the deployment of the solar array wings.

The Orion spacecraft has launched, taking astronauts Victor Glover, Christina Koch, Jeremy Hansen and Reid Wiseman into space on the historic 10-day Artemis II mission for the moon.

Liftoff occurred at 6:35 p.m. ET / 3:35 p.m. ET.

NASA has retracted the crew access arm from the Artemis II rocket.

The Orion has been cleared to launch today, with the new launch time set for 6:35 p.m. ET / 3:33 p.m. PT (and 12 seconds).

The Artemis II liftoff countdown has now resumed after a planned hold and check at the 10-minute mark. The mission is officially in terminal count, and the automated ground launch sequencer hardware has begun running.

The Artemis II liftoff countdown is holding at 10 minutes. Once the countdown resumes, the mission will be in terminal countdown.

NASA’s Artemis II launch countdown clock officially passed 30 minutes to takeoff.

A livestream from the Orion spacecraft will begin at around 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT, or once launch takes place. The stream will go live as Artemis II begins ascending into space, featuring “live views from Artemis II’s Orion spacecraft, without commentary, as it makes its journey around the moon.” The stream will end just before the Orion’s splashdown into the Pacific Ocean at the conclusion of the mission. 

If there’s a loss of signal or a lack of enough bandwidth during the mission, you’ll see a blue screen. If it’s nighttime, you’ll see what looks like a black screen.

To catch up on what’s been happening overnight or while you’re at work, you can read NASA’s live blog for all Artemis II mission updates. We’ll also keep updating with major mission milestones on CNET.

Astronaut eats: they’re not just Tang and Space Food Sticks these days. NASA shared a look at the menu for the Artemis II astronauts, and it doesn’t sound half bad.

The Artemis II crew will enjoy more than 10 types of beverages, including coffee, mango-peach smoothies, green tea, apple cider, lemonade, a pineapple drink, cocoa and breakfast drinks flavored in their choice of chocolate, vanilla or strawberry. 

The most common food items they’ll eat include tortillas, wheat flat bread, vegetable quiche, barbecued beef brisket, mango salad, granola with blueberries, macaroni and cheese, tropical fruit salad, couscous with nuts, broccoli au gratin, spicy green beans, almonds, cashews, and butternut squash cauliflower.

NASA also reports that the astronauts can choose to spice up their meals — there are five different hot sauces available to the crew. And culinary flavorings available include maple syrup, chocolate spread, peanut butter, spicy mustard, strawberry jam, honey, cinnamon and almond butter. Sweet treats include cookies, chocolate, pudding, cake, candy-coated almonds and cobbler.

And, no, they’re not popping a flavor pill or sucking a sandwich out of a tube, like old sci-fi shows told us.

“Food aboard Orion is ready-to-eat, rehydratable, thermostabilized or irradiated,” NASA says. “The crew uses Orion’s potable water dispenser to rehydrate foods and beverages and a compact, briefcase-style food warmer to heat meals as needed.”

An issue has been discovered with less than an hour to go until the launch window opens: one of the two battery temperature sensors on the Launch Abort System is “out of spec,” with the NASA engineering team now troubleshooting to understand whether it’s a sensor issue or a battery issue. It’s unknown whether this could delay or prevent launch.

Launch weather chances have improved, however, with NASA now predicting a 90% chance of launch, up from the 80% previously reported.

With just over an hour until the launch window opens, the last hatch on the Orion spacecraft has been sealed.

The range is cleared for launch, and the sun is poking through the clouds after some rain, according to NASA’s livestream. Again, the two-hour window begins at 6:24 p.m. ET / 3:24 p.m. PT.

The Artemis II mission is the first time humans have gone to the moon since the 1970s. In addition, Victor Glover will be the first Black person to travel to the moon; Christina Koch will be the first woman; and Jeremy Hansen will be the first Canadian.

The astronauts will not be disembarking the spacecraft and setting foot on the moon. Rather, this mission will travel around the moon, including to the far side, where no crewed mission has been before.

NASA intends to put humans on the moon by 2028:

• Artemis II: Scheduled to launch today, April 1, it will send astronauts around the moon to conduct tests.
• Artemis III: Scheduled to launch in mid-2027, it will perform additional tests, connect with lunar landers in low Earth orbit and test gear.
• Artemis IV: Scheduled to launch in early 2028, it will put humans back on the moon for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972.
• Artemis V: Could launch in late 2028 or 2029, and intends to put humans on the moon, again.

As we close in on 2.5 hours before the launch window opens, you can check out some of National Geographic’s videos taken aboard Orion last year as part of a partnership with NASA. Some of the videos showcase the spacecraft’s toilet and sleeping quarters.

NASA and Nat Geo collaborated under a Space Act Agreement to develop compact, lightweight audiovisual hardware for use inside Orion during the Artemis II mission.

Over on the Orion right now, voice checks with all four crew members have been completed, and while rain showers are heading through the Kennedy Space Center area, they shouldn’t be a problem for launch. According to AccuWeather, it’s currently 75 degrees Fahrenheit and partly sunny on Merritt Island, Florida. AccuWeather is predicting conditions are “likely dry for the Artemis II launch.”

People all over the world are watching the launch preparations with interest, including royalty. The Instagram account of Britain’s royal family posted a message from King Charles III of the United Kingdom on Wednesday, in which the king sent a congratulatory message to one of the astronauts.

The king’s message was sent to mission specialist and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Colonel Jeremy Hansen, the first Canadian to travel on a moon mission. Canada is part of Britain’s Commonwealth of Nations.

“As you embark on this momentous endeavour, I send you and your fellow crew members my heartfelt good wishes,” the message reads. “May the stars align in your favour, and may your safe return inspire countless others to uphold the values of sustainability, cooperation and wonder that the Astra Carta inspires.”

Mention of the Astra Carta refers to an initiative by Charles to inspire sustainability across the space industry.

The full message sent to Hansen is available on the royal family website.

The close-out crew is now strapping NASA astronaut Commander Reid Wiseman and Canadian mission specialist II Jeremy Hansen into the Orion, while NASA pilot Victor Glover and NASA mission specialist Christina Koch wait in the white room to board. They have to strap in the astronauts two at a time because of the extremely tight quarters on board; one suit technician had to kneel on the seat where Koch will be seated in order to strap Wiseman and Hansen in.

Five-point harnesses with a quick release are being strapped to the astronauts, as well as the close-out crew connecting communications, air and water cooling cables.

The Orion test conductor just completed a successful test with Hansen, making contact with the astronauts on-board the spacecraft. A successful comms check with Wiseman was then completed.

With just 4 hours until the launch window opens, the crew is in the final stages prior to boarding the Orion spacecraft, crossing a 274-foot-high bridge to the entry point.

The crew member signed a wall with their patch on it at Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center, and they were fitted by NASA’s suit technicians with their caps, helmets and gloves in the white room. The suits are flame-retardant and have built-in knee pads, as the astronauts will have to crawl inside the spacecraft.

The astronauts boarded the Astrovan (a customized Airstream van built for NASA) to take them to the launch pad. It’s about a 20-minute journey, but to kill the time, the van has a video player and monitor. NASA’s official launch broadcast said that the Artemis II crew plans to watch Top Gun and Point Break while in the Astrovan. It’s not clear how much of either film they’ll get to view, but the NASA broadcast noted that Point Break was chosen because astronaut Christina Koch surfs.

Before the astronauts head to the launch pad, they said goodbye to their families ahead of their 10-day mission. The Artemis II crew boarded the Astrovan, a modified Airstream van, which will carry them to the launch pad.

NASA has a handful of live streams from different cameras for the launch in addition to the official broadcast. There are live streams from the Kennedy Space Center, where the launch pad is, and from the International Space Station, monitoring the situation from Earth’s orbit. The Artemis II mission is slated to travel 1,000 times farther than the ISS, to the far side of the moon. It’ll be the farthest a crewed mission has ever traveled — around 4,000 miles farther than the Apollo 11 crew traveled.

With just under five hours to go until launch, the crew is in the suit-up room right now. Over on NASA’s livestream on YouTube, you can watch Reid Wiseman (the commander), Victor Glover (the pilot), Christina Koch (mission specialist) and Jeremy Hansen (mission specialist) getting fitted out with their equipment. The four astronauts are wearing bright orange space suits as other NASA workers attach equipment and technology to their suits.

The weather is favorable, though one display unit onboard the spacecraft is running cooler than usual. NASA cites an 80% chance of launch today. The space agency is predicting launch towards the start of its two-hour window, which opens at 6:24 p.m. ET / 3:24 p.m. PT.

While the Artemis II mission isn’t planning on having astronauts land on the moon’s surface, it’s important for many reasons.

Like Apollo 8, which laid the foundation for Neil Armstrong and the other Apollo 11 astronauts to become the first men to walk on the moon, Artemis II is integral to future NASA missions. Artemis II is the first crewed mission of the series, which will put the Space Launch System rocket and its life support systems to the test. There are two more Artemis missions planned and funded through 2028, with Artemis IV slated to put humans on the moon.

Artemis II’s crew is also planning to go farther into deep space than any previous mission. At the peak of its orbit, the rocket will be over 4,700 miles from the far side of the moon. With NASA and other space organizations dedicated to exploring deeper space and Mars, it’s important to build and test technology and equipment that can support longer missions.

I’m going to say upfront that I am not an expert in aerospace engineering. If you are, you might enjoy reading NASA’s official reference guide for the Artemis II rocket. Here are some quick highlights.

• Artemis II’s rocket consists of a Space Launch System (SLS, the actual rocket) and Orion spacecraft (the payload on top of the rocket, which is what the astronauts will return in).
• The SLS is the most powerful rocket NASA has ever built, producing 8.8 million pounds of thrust. It has two rocket boosters and is 98 meters (about 322 feet) tall. That’s just a bit taller than the Statue of Liberty.
• The Orion spacecraft is wider and roomier than the spacecraft used in the Apollo missions. Luckily for the astronauts, it also has a new and improved toilet.
• Compared with the Saturn V rocket, the SLS is shorter but has more efficient engines that pack a bigger punch. But the SLS maxes out at 27 metric tons, while the Saturn V could support heavier payloads. You can check out our full comparison of Artemis versus Saturn V for more info.

I grew up watching the Apollo moon missions. It was absolutely thrilling — every liftoff, every step on the lunar surface, every splashdown on the safe return to Earth. Then, suddenly, it was over, and more than 50 years have passed since humans made that epic journey so far from home. Now, the Artemis program has arrived to bring back that sense of awe. Space travel has never been exactly humdrum, but after so many successful space shuttle, Soyuz and SpaceX flights into orbit and long-term residencies at the International Space Station, it has gotten routine. 

Artemis II is here to shake things up.

Which got me thinking about where this is taking us. The Apollo program was the culmination of the first wave of space exploration, an epoch of heroic achievement by scientists, engineers and astronauts alike. The Artemis missions mark the start of a whole new era of space exploitation. It won’t be long now before we are tapping into the moon’s natural resources, before space mining becomes a career option. Elon Musk, rather than Neil Armstrong, could soon be the face of our lunar endeavors. I hope the sense of wonder and adventure stays with us.

The Artemis II crew (from left): Backup crew members Andre Douglas and Jenni Gibbons, then prime crew members pilot Victor Glover, commander Reid Wiseman and mission specialists Jeremy Hansen and Christina Koch. Hansen is the sole Canadian among the American crew and will be the first of his countrymen to travel to the moon.