If everything goes according to plan, tomorrow, April 1, for the first time in more than 50 years, human beings will leave Earth bound for the Moon. The countdown began Monday at 4:44 p.m. EDT, with liftoff targeted no earlier than 6:24 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, April 1, from Launch Complex 39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. A two-hour launch window is available, with backup opportunities through April 6.
The four-person crew — NASA Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen — will ride NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft (nicknamed Integrity by the crew) on a 10-day mission looping around the Moon and back to Earth. They won’t land on the lunar surface — that’s the job of Artemis 4 — but the flight will test Orion’s life support systems with people aboard for the first time, clearing the way for a crewed lunar landing as early as 2028. It is the first time humans have traveled beyond Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in December 1972.
NASA forecasters put the odds at 80% favorable for Wednesday, with NOAA predicting partly sunny skies and a high near 79F for Cape Canaveral — though a 20% chance of showers remains a factor. NASA’s launch weather criteria prohibit liftoff through precipitation or within 10 nautical miles of an active thunderstorm, among other constraints. If the launch is delayed, Thursday looks dicier with a 50% chance of showers.
Astronomy will maintain a live, continuously updated story here on the website tracking launch coverage as it happens. Read on for several ways to watch and follow along.
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NASA official broadcast (YouTube and NASA+)
Viewers can watch the official NASA broadcast both on YouTube and NASA+ (NASA’s free, no-subscription streaming service). The YouTube coverage begins Wednesday at 7:45 a.m. EDT with tanking operations and runs continuously through the entire 10-day mission. The NASA+ coverage is a shorter, more curated broadcast, beginning at 12:50 p.m. EDT with crew suit-up and signing off after Orion’s solar array wings deploy post-launch.
In the meantime, you can also watch the vehicle live on the pad now.
NASA’s Virtual Guest Program
Register free on NASA’s Eventbrite page to become an official virtual guest. Registrants receive a commemorative digital passport with a stamp emailed after launch. Watch party hosts can also access NASA’s official planning guide to organize their own viewing event.
More coverage
CNN’s special coverage, titled “Mission to the Moon: Artemis II Launch,” begins Wednesday at 5:00 p.m. EDT on CNN, CNN.com, and the CNN app, with anchor Boris Sanchez live from Kennedy Space Center.
C-SPAN’s all-day coverage begins at 1:00 p.m. EDT, featuring feeds from Kennedy Space Center and Mission Control, expert analysis, and live viewer calls, with coverage continuing through splashdown.
Track the mission in real time
NASA’s Artemis Real-time Orbit Website (AROW) lets you follow Orion’s journey around the Moon as it happens, starting about one minute after liftoff. It displays Orion’s location relative to Earth and the Moon, along with distance, speed, altitude, and elapsed mission time — the same data being sent to mission control in Houston.
AROW is available on the web and through the NASA mobile app, which adds an augmented reality feature that shows you exactly where Orion is relative to your location on Earth.
