Artemis II Unofficial mission hub

Mission

Artemis II overview

NASA’s first crewed Artemis flight: SLS lofted Orion from Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center, carrying four astronauts on a lunar flyby and return — a nearly 10-day mission that flew 695,081 miles in total (NASA, post-flight).

Artemis II launch of the Space Launch System and Orion NASA / Michael DeMocker

Mission framing (NASA)

  • TypeCrewed lunar flyby / systems test
  • DurationNearly 10 days (NASA)
  • Distance695,081 miles flown total; farthest from Earth 252,756 miles (NASA post-flight)
  • LaunchPad 39B, Kennedy Space Center · 6:35 p.m. EDT, April 1, 2026 (NASA)
  • SplashdownPacific Ocean off San Diego · 8:07 p.m. EDT / 5:07 p.m. PDT, April 10, 2026 (NASA)
  • VehiclesSLS (Space Launch System) + Orion (crew module Integrity) + ESA European Service Module
  • CrewWiseman (CDR), Glover (PLT), Koch (MS), Hansen (MS, CSA)

Timeline

Key phases

  1. Launch

    Liftoff from Pad 39B

    SLS lofted Orion from Kennedy Space Center. NASA reported liftoff at 6:35 p.m. EDT on April 1, 2026.

  2. Earth vicinity

    Checkout in Earth orbit

    With crew aboard, Orion and the interim cryogenic propulsion stage completed Earth orbits to verify systems while still close to home — a deliberate step beyond Artemis I’s uncrewed profile.

  3. Outbound

    Translunar injection

    The stack departed Earth orbit onto a path that carried the crew toward and around the Moon.

  4. Lunar flyby

    Around the far side

    The crew evaluated spacecraft performance, practiced emergency procedures, and tested the radiation shelter from a unique vantage with the Moon nearby and Earth far behind.

  5. Return

    Re-entry & splashdown

    Orion returned through high-speed atmospheric entry and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off San Diego. NASA reported splashdown at 8:07 p.m. EDT (5:07 p.m. PDT) on April 10, 2026.

Objectives

What success looked like

Primary goal: a crewed test flight in lunar space demonstrating that teams and systems can sustain the crew outbound, around the Moon, and home.

  • Validate Orion life support, propulsion, power, thermal, and communications with crew aboard
  • Practice manual operations and emergency procedures (including radiation shelter)
  • Demonstrate heat shield performance and recovery operations
  • Build operational confidence for Artemis III and later surface missions

Sources: NASA Artemis II, Artemis II reference / Q&A materials on nasa.gov.

Artemis II recovery preparations at sea
Recovery operations context for Artemis II. NASA / Joel Kowsky

Keep reading

SLS & Orion overview · Crew bios · NASA photography

Always prefer primary NASA pages if numbers differ across secondary summaries.