NASA’s Artemis II Lifts Off! First Crewed Moon Mission in Over 50 Years

A third camera view of the successful launch of NASA’s Artemis II mission from Launch Complex 39B at Kennedy Space Center, Florida on April 1, 2026. Artemis II is the first crewed mission of the Artemis program and the first human mission sent around the Moon in more than 50 years. The mission launched aboard NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion spacecraft, carrying Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen on an approximately 10-day journey around the Moon and back to Earth. According to NASA’s live launch-day updates, the countdown entered terminal count with a revised T-0 of 6:35 p.m. EDT, after teams worked through final preparations during the launch window. When I checked NASA’s live blog, it had detailed the final countdown but had not yet posted a written confirmation of liftoff, so the launch success noted here is based on current reporting from major news outlets covering the event live. Artemis II is a major milestone for NASA’s Moon to Mars program, testing the SLS rocket, Orion spacecraft, and crewed deep-space operations ahead of future lunar missions.