Nasa has said the long-delayed Artemis II mission, the first crewed flyby of the Moon in more than 50 years, could launch as soon as 1 April. The US space agency is working towards the new date after technical difficulties pushed back an original February launch.
“We are on track for a launch as early as April 1, and we are working toward that date,” Lori Glaze, a senior Nasa official, told a press conference on Thursday. “It’s a test flight, and it is not without risk, but our team and our hardware are ready,” she added, while cautioning that work remains.
The first launch window would open on Wednesday 1 April at 6.24pm (22.24 GMT), with several other opportunities expected over the following six days. Glaze said the agency anticipates about four launch opportunities within that period.
The crew comprises three American astronauts – mission commander Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch – alongside Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen. According to Nasa diagrams, the spacecraft will circumnavigate Earth before heading to the Moon, without landing, and then return to splash down in the ocean.
The crew’s proximity to the lunar surface will depend on the launch date, ranging from 4,000 to 6,000 miles (6,450 to 9,650 km) above the Moon. While this is farther than the 80 miles reached by the uncrewed Artemis I, Nasa said the mission would still take humans “tens of thousands of miles closer” to the Moon than anyone has been in over 50 years. At that distance, the Moon will appear roughly the size of a basketball held at arm’s length.
Artemis II will be followed by Artemis III, which aims for a rendezvous in low-Earth orbit with a lunar lander, and then Artemis IV, targeting a lunar landing in early 2028. The programme was revamped in February, adding a test mission before the eventual landing, and builds on Donald Trump’s first-term ambition to return Americans to the Moon.
