April 1, 2026

Artemis program

Artemis II launches with four astronauts aboard

Before leaving crew quarters the four astronauts played cards until Commander Reid Wiseman lost — a launch tradition for using up the crew's bad luck.

6:35 p.m. EDT from Pad 39B

On 1 April 2026, NASA's Space Launch System lifted off from Launch Complex 39B at Kennedy Space Center at 6:35 p.m. EDT with 8.8 million pounds of thrust.

Aboard the Orion spacecraft Integrity were Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen — the first astronauts to ride either SLS or Orion off the pad.

The solid boosters and core stage separated as planned, and the upper stage delivered Orion to Earth orbit.

One orbit-raising burn, then checkout

That evening the upper stage completed a perigee-raise burn, refining Orion's orbit ahead of an approximately 23.5-hour high-Earth-orbit checkout.

Minutes after reaching orbit the spacecraft briefly stopped sending data to the ground; the crew could still hear mission control, and communications were soon restored.

By nightfall the four astronauts were in orbit and had begun the checkout phase required before committing to a Moon-bound trajectory.

What launch day was not

This was the launch and Earth-orbit checkout, not the flyby. The distance record came on 6 April and splashdown on 10 April; neither belongs in an account of 1 April.

The mission also never orbited or landed on the Moon — it flew a hybrid free-return flyby, unlike Apollo 8, which entered lunar orbit.

The February setbacks were ground-test problems, not failed launch attempts: a liquid-hydrogen leak on 3 February ended a wet-dress rehearsal, and a later helium-flow problem after a successful rehearsal prompted the rollback to the Vehicle Assembly Building.

Sources

Researched 24 Aug 2026 5 sources not yet audited

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