On an April evening, four people sit atop a rocket at Kennedy Space Center, and a great many others, from living rooms and phones, prepare to follow them. Their ten-day loop around the moon is less a triumph than a rehearsal: a careful check of machines and systems before humanity tries to stand on the lunar surface again for the first time since Apollo ended in 1972. The public's window into the journey, a tracker that shows a capsule's speed and distance, turns an old dream of the moon into something people can watch unfold minute by minute.
Artemis II Launch Tracker: How to Follow Four Astronauts on Their Journey Around the Moon
Four astronauts are about to venture farther from Earth than any humans ever have.
Mark
Why does a tracker matter in a mission like this?
Mimi
It lets anyone see the flight as it happens. AROW shows Orion's position, speed, and distance from Earth and the moon, with data coming from sensors on the capsule.
Mark
Where does that data actually go first?
Mimi
To Mission Control at Johnson Space Center in Houston, and then out to the public. Updates start about a minute after liftoff.
Luke
Worth noting that April 1 is a target, not a confirmed date. The article says NASA is working toward it.
Mimi
Right. There's an 80% chance of favorable weather, and backup dates on April 2 through 6 and April 30.
Mark
What is the mission actually trying to prove?
Mimi
It's a test flight. The crew checks systems and hardware ahead of a landing.
Luke
And the landing timeline? Is 2028 firm?
Mimi
The source says as early as 2028, under Artemis IV. That's a goal, not a guarantee.
Luke
The farther-than-any-humans claim is also the article's framing. It doesn't give a distance beyond about a quarter-million miles.
Mark
Who is flying?
Mimi
Wiseman, Glover, Koch, and Hansen, who is on his first spaceflight.
Der Puls
- A 2-hour launch window opening at 6:24 p.m. ET on April 1 puts a countdown clock on the entire mission.
- NASA's weather odds of 80% leave room for a scrub, and backup dates stretch from April 2 to 6 and again on April 30.
- The AROW tracker, on desktop and mobile, will begin feeding Orion's speed and distances about one minute after liftoff.
- The crew has already passed through preflight quarantine, and every system must now prove itself on a flight that is chiefly a test.
- Success here clears the path toward a 2027 docking test with commercial landers and a crewed landing as early as 2028.
On an April evening, four people sit atop a rocket at Kennedy Space Center, and a great many others, from living rooms and phones, prepare to follow them. Their ten-day loop around the moon is less a triumph than a rehearsal: a careful check of machines and systems before humanity tries to stand on the lunar surface again for the first time since Apollo ended in 1972. The public's window into the journey, a tracker that shows a capsule's speed and distance, turns an old dream of the moon into something people can watch unfold minute by minute.
On the evening of Wednesday, April 1, NASA aims to lift four astronauts from a pad at Kennedy Space Center, and anyone with a laptop or phone can watch. The launch window opens at 6:24 p.m. ET, and the crew will ride an Orion capsule atop the 322-foot Space Launch System toward a 10-day journey around the moon and back.
Following along is the Artemis Real-time Orbit Website, known as AROW, available on desktop and in NASA's mobile app. It shows Orion's location, speed, and distance from Earth and the moon. Updates begin about one minute after liftoff, drawn from sensors aboard the spacecraft and relayed to Mission Control in Houston. The phone version adds augmented reality, letting users point their device to see where Orion sits.
The launch is not certain. NASA gives 80% odds of good weather, and if the attempt is scrubbed, backup dates run April 2 through 6 and April 30.
The crew reached Florida on March 27 after preflight quarantine. Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, who makes his first flight, carry the weight of a mission built to test before anyone lands. The flight opens the way for later stages, including a 2027 docking test with commercial landers from SpaceX and Blue Origin, and a crewed landing planned for 2028 under Artemis IV.
On the evening of Wednesday, April 1, NASA is working toward lifting four astronauts off a pad at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and anyone with a laptop or a phone will be able to watch them go. The agency's two-hour launch window opens at 6:24 p.m. ET. The crew will ride in an Orion capsule on top of the 322-foot Space Launch System rocket, bound for a 10-day trip around the moon and back.
The tool for following along is called the Artemis Real-time Orbit Website, or AROW. It runs on desktop and as part of NASA's mobile app. According to NASA, it shows where Orion is, how fast it is moving, and how many miles separate it from both Earth and the moon. The desktop version also lists key mission milestones and facts about the moon, including details on Apollo-era landing sites.
The phone version is similar but adds an augmented reality feature. Users can move their phones to see where Orion currently sits relative to Earth. The numbers come from sensors aboard the spacecraft, which send data to the Mission Control Center at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. Updates are due to begin about one minute after liftoff and continue until Orion starts re-entering Earth's atmosphere roughly 10 days later.
The launch is not guaranteed for that evening. NASA puts the chance of favorable weather at 80%. If weather or a problem with the spacecraft scrubs the attempt, backup dates are available April 2 through 6, and again on April 30.
The crew reached Florida on March 27 after entering the standard preflight quarantine meant to keep them from falling ill. Reid Wiseman, a Baltimore native, is the commander; he last flew in 2014 on a Russian Soyuz to the International Space Station. Victor Glover, the pilot, is from Pomona, California, and flew to the station in 2020 on a SpaceX mission. Christina Koch, a mission specialist from Grand Rapids, Michigan, holds several space agency records and flew a Soyuz station mission in 2019. Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency is the fourth member, and it will be his first trip to space.
Artemis II is the second flight in NASA's multibillion-dollar Artemis program, and it is chiefly a test. The crew will check out systems and hardware before any attempt at a landing. NASA's stated aim is to return astronauts to the lunar surface for the first time since the Apollo missions ended in 1972, and to establish a permanent foothold at the moon's south pole through a series of crewed and uncrewed missions that would build a base. From there, the agency says, humans could eventually head to Mars.
The schedule beyond this flight is laid out in stages. In 2027, another crew is due to take Orion into Earth orbit to test docking with one or both of the commercial lunar landers under development, one by Elon Musk's SpaceX and one by Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin. A landing would follow in 2028 under Artemis IV. For now, the thing to watch is the countdown at 6:24 p.m. ET, and whether the first AROW readings arrive a minute after the rocket leaves the ground.
Bemerkenswerte Zitate
NASA says AROW shows Orion's location, speed, and distance in miles from both Earth and the moon.— NASA, as reported by USA TODAY
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