Artemis II Launches — First Humans Beyond Low Earth Orbit Since Apollo 17

NASA's SLS Block 1 rocket carrying the Orion spacecraft (callsign: Integrity) lifted off from LC-39B at Kennedy Space Center at 6:35:12 p.m. EDT on April 1, 2026 — the first crewed mission beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in December 1972. The crew: Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover (first person of color beyond LEO), Mission Specialist Christina Koch (first woman on a lunar trajectory), and Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen (CSA, first non-American beyond LEO). The 10-day mission will send the crew on a free-return trajectory around the Moon without entering lunar orbit. Two brief holds during the countdown were resolved: a Flight Termination System ground hardware issue and a Launch Abort System battery sensor anomaly (instrumentation fault). All systems performed nominally; solar arrays fully deployed. Weather was 90% favorable at launch.