Race to the Moon · United States
Artemis II (Orion) launched on 1 Apr 2026, 22:35 UTC (1 Apr 2026, 6:35 pm EDT). Artemis II (Orion) is a crewed lunar flyby mission in the Artemis programme by NASA, counted under United States.
Data reviewed against sources as of · All dates UTC unless a local time is shown
Firsts: First crewed flight beyond low Earth orbit since 1972; Greatest distance from Earth ever reached by humans
Crew: Reid Wiseman (commander), Victor Glover (pilot), Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen (CSA), in the Orion spacecraft named Integrity. SLS put Orion in a high Earth orbit; Orion’s own engine fired the trans-lunar injection. Heat-shield char loss was "significantly reduced". NASA is investigating a urine vent-line issue.
Orion first crewed flight: promised 30 Apr 2023 (announced 16 Sep 2015)
"a commitment baseline of $11.3 billion and an April 2023 launch readiness date" (Sep 2015)
Late: first attempt 1 Apr 2026, 1067 days after the promised date.
Sources: U.S. GAO (GAO-16-620) (read 23 Sep 2026)
Artemis II (Orion) launched on 1 Apr 2026, 22:35 UTC (1 Apr 2026, 6:35 pm EDT).
Artemis II (Orion) is a crewed lunar flyby mission in the Artemis programme by NASA, counted under United States.
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