NASA’s Artemis II Crew Launches to the Moon

LIVE: Artemis II Launch Day Updates

Live updates for launch of NASA’s Artemis II test flight will be published on this page. NASA’s launch broadcast coverage is airing on NASA+, Amazon Prime, and YouTube. All times are Eastern.

6:59 p.m.

The Orion spacecraft’s SAWs (solar arrays wings) have fully deployed, completing a key configuration step for the Artemis II mission. Flight controllers in Houston confirmed that all four wings unfolded as planned, locking into place and beginning to draw power.

Each solar array wing extends outward from the European Service Module, giving Orion, named Integrity, a wingspan of roughly 63 feet when fully deployed. Each wing has 15,000 solar cells to convert sunlight to electricity. The arrays can turn on two axes that allow them to rotate and track the Sun, maximizing power generation as the spacecraft changes attitude during its time in Earth orbit and on its outbound journey to the Moon.

The next major milestones are the PRM (perigee raise maneuver) and ARB (apogee raise burn) that will increase the lowest and highest points of the Orion spacecraft’s orbit and prepare the spacecraft for deep‑space operations.

Following the burns, NASA will hold a postlaunch news conference at 9 p.m. from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Following the news conference, the Artemis II crew will begin preparations for Orion’s proximity operations demonstration. This demonstration will test the ability to manually maneuver Orion relative to another spacecraft, in this case, the interim cryogenic propulsion stage after separation.

6:43 p.m.

Main engine cutoff of the SLS (Space Launch System) core stage is complete, and the core stage has successfully separated from the interim cryogenic propulsion stage and the Orion spacecraft. This marks the end of the first major propulsion phase of the Artemis II mission and the transition to upper‑stage operations.

6:38 p.m.

The spacecraft adapter jettison fairings that enclose the service module and the launch abort system have separated from the Orion spacecraft. With the rocket and spacecraft now flying above the densest layers of Earth’s atmosphere, Orion no longer requires the protective structures that shielded it during the early, high‑dynamic‑pressure portion of launch.

6:37 p.m.

The SLS (Space Launch System) twin solid rocket boosters have separated. The boosters, each standing 177 feet tall and generating more than 3.6 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, provide most of the rocket’s power during the first two minutes of flight.

6:35 p.m.

NASA’s Artemis II SLS (Space Launch System) rocket, with the Orion spacecraft atop carrying NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, lifted off from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39B in Florida at 6:35 p.m. EDT to begin its journey to deep space.

The approximately 10-day Artemis II mission around the Moon is the first crewed flight under NASA’s Artemis campaign. It will help test the systems and hardware needed to continue sending astronauts on increasingly difficult missions to explore more of the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and to continue building toward the first crewed missions to Mars.