Artemis

NASA has selected SpaceX to deliver laser communications capabilities for next year’s Artemis III mission, enabling the agency to provide a front row seat for viewers from the Orion spacecraft as four astronauts test rendezvous and docking capabilities between Orion and test versions of commercial human landing systems needed to return astronauts to the Moon in 2028.  To supplement Orion’s existing communications system, NASA will install two of SpaceX’s Starlink mini laser terminals – the same laser […]

It is full steam ahead at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida as teams process and assemble flight hardware in preparation for the upcoming crewed Artemis III mission. Less than three months after the safe return of the Artemis II crew, teams began stacking the twin SLS (Space Launch System) solid rocket booster segments inside […]

The final booster motor segments for NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket that will help propel Artemis III astronauts on their journey to space shipped from Northrop Grumman’s Railyard Shipping Facility in Corinne, Utah on June 2. The eight booster motor segments are on their way to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida where they […]

On the heels of a successful Artemis II test flight, teams at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida are pressing forward for the next Artemis mission. Technicians maneuvered NASA’s massive core stage of the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket inside the agency’s Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA Kennedy on April 28 in preparation for Artemis III, as the Artemis II crew module arrived back at Kennedy for post-flight analysis.  The Artemis III core stage will be […]

The largest rocket section for NASA’s Artemis III mission arrived at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 27. The SLS (Space Launch System) core stage traveled 900 miles on the Pegasus barge from NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans where the stage is manufactured, to complete assembly of the massive rocket at NASA Kennedy.  Teams will transport the top four-fifths of the 212-foot-long core stage, the section containing the liquid hydrogen tank, liquid oxygen tank, intertank, and forward […]

After successfully being used to launch the Artemis II lunar test flight on April 1, NASA’s mobile launcher now is inside NASA Kennedy’s Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) in Florida in preparation for the Artemis III test flight mission rocket stacking operations.  NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems Program rolled the launcher on a 4-mile trek from Launch Pad 39B to the VAB along the crawlerway on April 16. The trip, which normally takes eight to 12 hours on top of the agency’s crawler-transporter 2, had several built-in pauses to […]

Following the conclusion of NASA’s Artemis II test flight, teams at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida are shifting focus to Artemis III, which is targeted to launch next year, by rolling the mobile launcher from Launch Complex 39B to NASA’s Kennedy Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) in Florida in preparation for rocket stacking operations.  The mobile launcher began its approximately 4-mile trek on top of the agency’s crawler-transporter 2 at 8:11 a.m. EDT Thursday, […]

The Artemis II crew of NASA astronauts – Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen – has returned to the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston following their historic lunar flyby mission.  The first crewed test flight of NASA’s Artemis program lifted off from Launch Pad 39B at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 6:35 p.m. EDT April 1, carrying the first astronauts to travel to the Moon in more than half […]

Live re-entry updates for NASA’s Artemis II mission will be published on this page. All times are Eastern. 4:27 a.m. The Orion spacecraft is secured in the well deck of USS John P. Murtha after splashing down in the Pacific Ocean and carrying NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen on an approximate 10-day mission around the […]

At 2:53 p.m. EDT, the Orion spacecraft ignited its thrusters for 8 seconds, producing a change in velocity of 4.2 feet-per-second and pushing Artemis II toward Earth. NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen reviewed procedures and monitored the spacecraft’s configuration and navigation data.