Artemis

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.

The Artemis II crew — NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen — began the final phase of their journey home to the songs “Run to the Water” by Live, selected by the crew, and “Free” by Zac Brown Band, as they prepared for their third return trajectory correction burn and shifted into full re-entry and splashdown preparations. When they woke up, they were 61,326 miles from Earth.

At 10:53 p.m. EDT, the Orion spacecraft ignited its thrusters for 9 seconds, producing an acceleration in velocity of 5.3 feet-per-second and pushing the Artemis II crew toward Earth. The crew is now more than halfway home. 

On their last full day in space, the Artemis II crew began the morning with “Lonesome Drifter” by Charley Crockett as they approached Earth at 147,337 miles.

Editor’s Note: This blog was updated on April 8, 2026, to update the time for the crew news conference. In addition, flight controllers elected to forgo the 10:55 p.m. EDT manual piloting demo. Editor’s Note: This blog was updated to provide information on the originally scheduled radiation shielding demonstration. Aboard the Orion spacecraft, named Integrity, […]

At 8:03 p.m. EDT, the Orion spacecraft, named Integrity, ignited its thrusters for 15 seconds, producing a change in velocity of 1.6 feet-per-second and guiding the Artemis II crew toward Earth. NASA astronaut Christina Koch and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen reviewed procedures and monitored the spacecraft’s configuration and navigation data.   During today’s mission status briefing, NASA officials shared the first images received from the crew during the lunar flyby and […]