dailyloe.com – NASA’s Artemis II mission, the first crewed flight of the Artemis program, is scheduled for launch today, April 1, from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The launch window opens at 6:24 PM Eastern Time, with NASA reporting an 80% chance of favorable weather conditions.
Engineers completed critical health checks on the Space Launch System rocket on March 31. They subsequently shifted the launch system into its final configuration overnight.
The ground launch sequencer will be activated in the early hours of April 1. Propellant loading for the SLS rocket will begin at 7:45 AM ET, viewable on NASA’s live stream.
Full launch coverage begins at 12:50 PM ET on NASA+, Amazon Prime, and YouTube. The mission will carry NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, plus Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
Artemis II represents NASA’s first crewed flight using the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft system. It marks humanity’s first return to deep space travel since the Apollo program ended.
The astronauts will embark on a 10-day journey around the Moon. Their mission will focus on observing the effects of deep space travel on human health.
This launch follows two previous postponements in February and March. Those delays were caused by a hydrogen leak and a separate helium issue, respectively.
If today’s launch attempt is unsuccessful, NASA has identified April 6 as the next available opportunity. The agency stated all systems are currently go for the historic flight.[]
