1 of 3 | NASA’s Artemis II moon rocket with the Orion Spacecraft atop rests on Launch Complex 39B in the early morning light at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday. Artemis II, with a four-person crew, is scheduled to lift off later today at 6:24 p.m. EDT, with a two-hour window. It will be the first crew launch to visit the Moon in more than 50 years. Photo by Pat Benic/UPI | License Photo
The four crew members of NASA’s Artemis II mission boarded the spacecraft Wednesday afternoon in preparation for the first crewed mission to the moon in more than five decades.
The door on the Orion crew capsule was shut and sealed to lock the four astronauts — NASA’s Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Reid Wiseman, and Canadian Space Agency’s Jeremy Hansen — inside.
Shortly after the crew members boarded the craft, though, NASA officials had to address a pair of issues.
Derrol Nail, of NASA, said officials fixed a problem with the Space Launch System rocket’s flight termination system.
Later, there was a problem with the battery on the launch abort system on Orion. This system ejects the capsule away from the rocket in case there’s a problem with the rocket during flight. NASA detected issues with temperature readings on the battery but had resolved the issue before schedule launch.
The four astronauts were preparing for liftoff at 6:24 p.m. EDT.
The rocket has its fill of fuel for the launch, and “Everything is going very well right now,” Artemis Assistant Launch Director Jeremy Graeber said Wednesday morning.
The 10-day trip will be the first crewed flight to the moon in more than 50 years and the farthest distance from Earth traveled by humans.
NASA said Tuesday that its only concern is with the weather, which is likely to be OK for launch. As of 5:40 p.m., NASA said weather conditions were 90% favorable for launch during the 2-hour launch window.
If it doesn’t go, there will be more launch opportunities through April 6.
Wind is a potential foil, though. Launch weather officer Mark Burger said NASA is doing real-time monitoring via multiple methods.
The Artemis I mission in 2022 flew around the moon but didn’t have a crew aboard. The Artemis II crew are: Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen, Mission Specialist Christina Koch, Commander Reid Wiseman and Pilot Victor Glover.
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Children race to push colored eggs across the grass during the annual Easter Egg Roll event on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on April 21, 2025. Easter this year takes place on April 5. Photo by Samuel Corum/UPI | License Photo
