US: Artemis II Launches, Marking First Crewed Lunar Mission in Half Century 4

NASA's Artemis II lifted off from Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, marking humanity's first crewed lunar flyby since Apollo 17 in 1972. The SLS (Space Launch System) rocket carried four astronauts — Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen — on a 10-day lunar flyby.

US: Artemis II Launches, Marking First Crewed Lunar Mission in Half Century 2

NASA's Artemis II lifted off from Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, marking humanity's first crewed lunar flyby since Apollo 17 in 1972. The SLS (Space Launch System) rocket carried four astronauts — Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen — on a 10-day lunar flyby.

US: Artemis II Launches, Marking First Crewed Lunar Mission in Half Century 3

NASA's Artemis II lifted off from Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, marking humanity's first crewed lunar flyby since Apollo 17 in 1972. The SLS (Space Launch System) rocket carried four astronauts — Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen — on a 10-day lunar flyby.

US: Artemis II Launch Spotted From Plane Window at Liftoff

NASA's Artemis II lifted off from Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, marking humanity's first crewed lunar flyby since Apollo 17 in 1972. The SLS (Space Launch System) rocket carried four astronauts — Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen — on a 10-day lunar flyby.

US: Artemis II Launches, Marking First Crewed Lunar Mission in Half Century

NASA's Artemis II lifted off from Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, marking humanity's first crewed lunar flyby since Apollo 17 in 1972. The SLS (Space Launch System) rocket carried four astronauts — Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen — on a 10-day lunar flyby.

NASA's Orion spacecraft completes closest flyby of Moon

STORY: NASA's Orion spacecraft completes closest flyby of Moon DATELINE: Nov. 23, 2022 LENGTH: 00:00:57 LOCATION: Washington D.C. CATEGORY: TECHNOLOGY SHOTLIST: 1. various of Earth-set captured as NASA's Orion spacecraft preparing for the outbound powered flyby maneuver 2. various of Earth-rise captured after NASA's Orion spacecraft executing the outbound powered flyby maneuver 3. various of the launch of NASA's Artemis I moon mission STORYLINE: NASA's Orion spacecraft completed its closest flyby of the Moon Monday morning. Before the flyby, the mission team conducted an outbound powered flyby burn at 7:44 a.m. U.S. Eastern Standard Time, increasing speed of the spacecraft at a rate of more than 580 miles per hour (mph) (928 kilometers per hour), according to NASA. At the time of the flyby, Orion was 81 miles (130 kilometers) above the lunar surface, traveling at 5,102 mph (8,163 kph). It was more than 230,000 miles (368,000 kilometers) from Earth during the flyby. The outbound powered flyby bu