Artemis II launch — crewed lunar flyby
The first crewed departure for the Moon since Apollo 17 — four astronauts riding Orion around the far side on a free-return trajectory.
The moment of Artemis II launch — crewed lunar flyby: https://nowsky.org/e/artemis2-launch — opens at the right place and time, replayable, no login.
Available views: Orbit ✓ · Sky — (not visible in the sky)
The story
Artemis II is the first flight to carry people toward the Moon since Apollo 17 in 1972. Four astronauts — Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canada's Jeremy Hansen — ride the Orion spacecraft atop an SLS rocket from Kennedy pad 39B. The crew includes the first woman and the first Canadian to travel to the Moon.
It is not a landing. After roughly a day of checkouts in Earth orbit the spacecraft boosts toward the Moon and follows a free-return trajectory around the far side — an orbit on which gravity alone brings the ship home without a further engine burn, the same principle that saved Apollo 13.
While behind the Moon the crew rewrites the record for the farthest humans have travelled from Earth (Apollo 13, 400,000 km). The ten-day round trip is the final human-in-the-loop checklist of Orion's life support, deep-space communications and manual control, and the gateway to the Artemis III landing.
The schedule first pointed to 2024 and slipped to 2026 after heat-shield and life-support reviews, with launch windows adjusted several times since. The date on this page is the planned window; the actual launch follows NASA announcements. The orbit replay shows the Earth–Moon round trip in time order.
Why it matters
Beyond the symbolism of a crewed lunar flight after half a century, this is a full re-certification of a human deep-space vehicle. Apollo's designs and data survive, but the people, companies and parts have changed; whether Orion's heat shield survives a 40,000 km/h re-entry with people aboard is proven only here.
Choosing a free-return trajectory is the core of the safety design: even with a failed engine the ship comes home, minimising the risk taken on a first crewed flight. Lunar orbit insertion and landing on Artemis III and beyond are built on this result.
It is also the first stage for international partnership — ESA's service module propels Orion and a Canadian astronaut flies. For the signatories of the Artemis Accords it is the first proof that the lunar programme moves.
How to watch
Launch is from Kennedy pad 39B on an SLS Block 1. Windows depend on the Earth–Moon geometry and on daylight at the splashdown zone, so they open only a few days a month. NASA TV carries launch, the far-side pass and re-entry live; in flight Orion is at best a point in large telescopes.
Contact with Earth drops out for about 40 minutes behind the Moon. The crew's own photographs of Earthrise are the most anticipated images of the flight.
The orbit replay draws the path from Earth around the far side to a Pacific splashdown. Tracking the Moon shows the free-return shape as the ship swings behind it and back.
See this for yourself — replay the moment in the orbit view
Background
Artemis I flew the same kind of mission uncrewed for 25 days in November–December 2022. Unexpected erosion of the heat shield found on that flight delayed Artemis II, and the analysis concluded with an adjusted re-entry profile rather than a redesign.
The crew was announced in April 2023: Koch holds the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman (328 days), Glover piloted the first operational Crew Dragon, Wiseman is a former chief astronaut, and Hansen is a Royal Canadian Air Force pilot.
Next comes Artemis III — landing people near the lunar south pole with a Starship lander, planned for 2027 or later depending on lander and spacesuit readiness. From Artemis IV the Gateway lunar station joins the architecture.
Artemis II’s trajectory is a lunar flyby like Apollo 8 (1968), but a free-return orbit that loops behind the Moon and comes home without landing or entering orbit. Because the Moon’s gravity alone brings the craft back even if the engine fails, it is the path Apollo 13 used to survive after its accident. The flight lasts about ten days, and as they pass behind the Moon the crew become the humans farthest from Earth, calculated to exceed Apollo 13’s record of 400,171 km. The Orion capsule first tested the same orbit uncrewed on Artemis I in 2022.
FAQ
Does it land on the Moon?
No — it loops around the far side and returns on a free-return trajectory. Landing begins with Artemis III.
How long is the flight?
About ten days: roughly a day of checks in Earth orbit, four days out and four back.
What is a free-return trajectory?
An orbit on which the Moon's gravity swings the ship back to Earth without another burn — the path Apollo 13 used to get home.
Is the date fixed?
No. Launch windows shift with NASA announcements; the date here is the planned window at the time of writing.
Related
- Artemis III lunar landing
- Apollo 11 landing
- Starship — the road to a lunar lander
- The Moon — object index
- Earth — object index
Times and figures are approximate — verify with official sources when planning travel. Simulation uses J2000 mean elements.