NASA Starts Countdown for First Moon Mission in 53 Years

NASA has officially begun the countdown for humanity’s first journey to the moon in more than five decades. The Artemis II mission will launch a 32-story Space Launch System rocket carrying the Orion spacecraft and four astronauts.

After orbiting Earth for a day, the crew’s Orion capsule will head straight to the moon and back, completing the nearly 10-day mission with a Pacific Ocean splashdown.

“Our team has worked extremely hard to get us to this moment,” said launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson. “All indications right now are that we are in excellent shape.”

The rocket returned to the launch pad about a week and a half ago after repairs to hydrogen fuel leaks and a clogged helium pressurization line. The U.S.-Canadian astronaut crew arrived at Kennedy Space Center on Friday to prepare for the historic flight.

Unlike the Apollo missions of 1968–1972, which sent only men to the moon, Artemis II’s crew includes a woman, a person of color, and a non-U.S. citizen.

Pilot Victor Glover said he hopes the mission will inspire young people to see themselves reflected in space exploration. “Girl power and that’s awesome,” he said, “and young brown boys and girls can look at me and think, ‘He looks like me, and he’s doing what?’” Glover added that he envisions a future where such “firsts” are no longer remarkable, but a part of shared human history.

NASA has a launch window in the first six days of April, after which the mission team will pause operations until the end of the month.