NASA’s Artemis II mission management team polled “Go” for the translunar injection burn to send the crew in the Orion spacecraft toward the Moon and send humans around Earth’s closest celestial neighbor for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972. The spacecraft will ignite its main engine on the service module for five minutes […]
A view of the Earth from NASA’s Orion spacecraft as it orbits above the planet during the Artemis II test flight. NASA astronauts Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, and Mission Specialist Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen, launched at 6:35 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, on an approximately 10-day mission around the Moon and back to Earth.
The Artemis II crew, working closely with mission control in Houston, were able to restore the Orion spacecraft’s toilet to normal operations following the proximity operations demonstration. Ahead of the apogee raise burn on April 1, the Artemis II crew reported a blinking fault light and mission control teams successfully assessed the data and worked […]
The Artemis II crew successfully completed the proximity operations demonstration, concluding one of the mission’s early objectives and providing valuable data on how the Orion spacecraft, named Integrity, performs during manual close‑range maneuvering around another spacecraft. Over the course of the approximately 70‑minute activity, the crew guided the spacecraft through a series of controlled approach […]
The apogee raise burn was successfully completed, continuing to fine tune the Orion spacecraft’s orbit around Earth. The ICPS (interim cryogenic propulsion stage) ignited its RL10 engine for a precisely timed burn that increased the highest point of the spacecraft’s orbit. Ahead of the burn, the Artemis II crew began setting their spacecraft up for […]
The perigee raise maneuver was successfully completed, refining the Orion spacecraft’s orbit around Earth. The interim cryogenic propulsion stage ignited its RL10 engine for a precisely timed burn that increased the lowest point of the spacecraft’s orbit. Shortly after the burn, the spacecraft experienced a loss of communications, when the ground was not able to […]
Emmanuel Boss, Ph.D., University of Maine For 50 days during the 2026 Austral summer (January to March), the PlanktoSpace team of 18 scientists, crew members, and passengers set sail on a unique mission. Our expedition traveled 7,200 miles across the Southern Ocean aboard the Perseverance, a sailing vessel owned by a French non-profit dedicated to science and education. Because the Perseverance uses sails for most of its journey, the expedition […]
Robotics training and human research were the primary duties for the Expedition 74 crew aboard the International Space Station on Wednesday. The orbital residents rounded out their shift with spacesuit work, cargo operations, and Earth observations.
Live launch day updates for NASA’s Artemis II test flight will be published on this page. 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 […]
Medical tests and microbiology topped the research schedule for the Expedition 74 crew aboard the International Space Station on Tuesday. The seven crewmates also worked on spacesuits, cargo operations, and life support maintenance.
