Complete Guide To NASA’s Epic Artemis II Mission — Launching This Week NASA’s Artemis II mission is due to lift off Wednesday, launching astronauts beyond Earth orbit for the first time since 1972. NASA’s Artemis II mission is due to lift off on Apr. 1, launching astronauts beyond Earth orbit for the first time since 1972.More than half a century after humans last traveled to the moon, NASA is preparing to send astronauts back into deep space — this time, they’re going beyond the moon. The Artemis II mission, scheduled to launch as early as Wednesday, April 1, will carry four astronauts on a 10-day journey around the moon and back to Earth — marking the first crewed mission beyond low-Earth orbit since NASA’s Apollo 17 in 1972. It’s a pivotal moment for NASA’s Artemis program and comes just days after the space agency confirmed its, a moon base and its intent to perform crewed lunar landings at least every six months beginning with Artemis IV in 2027.Orion capsule, NASA’s 322-foot-tall Space Launch System rocket, and the European Space Agency’s European Service Module now stand at Launch Complex 39B at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center, following an 11-hour rollout on March 20. Traveling at less than 1 mile per hour atop a crawler-transporter, the rocket’s slow journey signaled the transition into final launch preparations. SLS offers 8.8 million pounds of thrust as it lifts Orion and the ESM into orbit. This is not the first time SLS and Orion have reached the pad for the Artemis II mission. Earlier attempts were delayed by technical challenges, including a liquid hydrogen leak during a wet dress rehearsal. Engineers later resolved the issue, only to encounter a separate helium flow problem that required the rocket to be rolled back into the giant Vehicle Assembly Building for repairs. With those fixes complete, NASA has opted not to repeat the full rehearsal, aiming instead for a quick launch. Artemis II is due to launch between 6:24 and 10:24 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, April 1. It also happens to be the night of the full “pink moon,” with moonrise in Orlando, Florida, due at 7:36 p.m. EDT that day, during the launch window. However, there are backup opportunities, according to8:53 p.m. EDT on Saturday, April 4, to 12:53 a.m. EDT on Sunday, April 510:36 p.m. EDT on Monday, April 6, to 2:36 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, April 7 The mission will begin with launch and two orbits of Earth before moving into a highly elliptical orbit, with translunar insertion sending Orion and ESM to the moon. Artemis II crew members CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen, and NASA astronauts Christina Koch, Victor Glover, and Reid Wiseman walk out of the astronaut crew quarters inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building to the Artemis crew transportation vehicles prior to traveling to Launch Pad 39B as part of an integrated ground systems test at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sept. 20, 2023, to test the crew timeline for launch day.Their journey will include several historic milestones, including the first time a Black man , a woman and a non-American astronaut travel beyond low-Earth orbit toward the moon. The astronauts will travel 4,600 miles beyond the moon, traveling farther from Earth than any other humans .Over the course of the Artemis II mission, the crew will test life-support systems, navigation and communications for future Artemis missions to the moon. The data collected will directly inform future missions, including planned lunar landings later this decade. However, NASA has bigger plans.earlier this week that it intends to create a permanent human presence on the moon, with NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman outlining plans to begin sending infrastructure to the moon after the Artemis IV mission in late 2028. An artist's impression of NASA’s ‘SR-1 Freedom’ spacecraft, from NASA's "Ignition" presentation on March 24, 2026.While Artemis II focuses on the moon, NASA is already looking beyond it. Just days before the planned launch, the agency announced plans for a nuclear-powered mission to Mars targeted for December 2028. The mission will center on the experimental SR-1 Freedom spacecraft, designed to use nuclear electric propulsion. This technology would allow spacecraft to travel farther and more efficiently than traditional systems, representing a potential breakthrough in interplanetary travel. The Mars mission will also deploy advanced robotic helicopters to scout terrain and search for resources, such as water ice. Timed to coincide with a favorable planetary alignment, the mission could reach Mars in about a year.As Artemis II approaches liftoff, it’s beginning to seem more like a first step in a renewed era of deep-space exploration. Whether NASA’s ambitious plans materialize remains to be seen, but success for Artemis II will confirm that NASA’s systems are ready to carry humans beyond Earth orbit once again.