On a Wednesday in early April, four astronauts stand at the threshold of a journey that would carry humans farther from home than anyone has yet traveled. From Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Artemis II is set to lift off in a window opening at 6:24 p.m. Eastern, bound on a ten-day loop around the moon and back. It is a test as much as a voyage, a rehearsal for the day people will walk on the lunar surface again after a gap stretching back to Apollo in 1972.
Follow Artemis II Live: NASA's Tracker Lets the Public Watch Four Astronauts Loop the Moon
Farther from Earth than any humans have ever gone
Mark
So what exactly is AROW, and why would someone use it instead of just watching the launch?
Mimi
It's NASA's live tracker, on desktop and in the mobile app. It shows Orion's position, speed, and distance from Earth and the moon, in miles, for the whole ten days.
Mark
Where does the data come from?
Mimi
Sensors on the capsule send it to Mission Control in Houston. Updates start about a minute after liftoff and run until re-entry.
Luke
Worth noting that's NASA describing its own tool. The reporting doesn't say how often the numbers refresh, only that they're continuously updated.
Mark
The phone version has something extra, right?
Mimi
An augmented reality feature. You move your phone and it shows where Orion is relative to Earth.
Mark
And the launch itself is not guaranteed?
Mimi
No. The window opens at 6:24 p.m. Eastern and lasts two hours. NASA gives an 80 percent chance of good weather, with backups April 2 through 6 and April 30.
Luke
The article says launch is 'potentially' April 1. Nothing here confirms it happened. And 80 percent is NASA's forecast, not a certainty.
Mark
Why does this flight matter beyond the distance record?
Mimi
It's a test flight. The crew checks systems before a landing planned for as early as 2028, with a 2027 docking test in Earth orbit first.
Luke
'As early as 2028' is doing real work in that sentence. The source gives the schedule but not what could move it.
Le Pouls
- A four-person crew is poised to launch on a rocket that stands 322 feet tall, with the window opening at 6:24 p.m. Eastern.
- Forecasters give 80 percent odds of good weather, leaving room for a scrub that could push the countdown to April 2 through 6 or April 30.
- Anyone can follow Orion's speed and distance in real time through NASA's AROW website and app, with updates beginning about a minute after liftoff.
- The mission checks systems on a ten-day lunar loop, setting up a 2027 docking test and a 2028 landing attempt under Artemis IV.
On a Wednesday in early April, four astronauts stand at the threshold of a journey that would carry humans farther from home than anyone has yet traveled. From Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Artemis II is set to lift off in a window opening at 6:24 p.m. Eastern, bound on a ten-day loop around the moon and back. It is a test as much as a voyage, a rehearsal for the day people will walk on the lunar surface again after a gap stretching back to Apollo in 1972.
On the afternoon of April 1, NASA is preparing to launch four astronauts from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The launch window is two hours long and opens at 6:24 p.m. Eastern. If the rocket goes, the crew will travel farther from Earth than any humans have gone, and anyone can follow along.
The tracking tool is called AROW, the Artemis Real-time Orbit Website. It runs in a desktop browser and in NASA's mobile app, showing Orion's position, speed, and distance from Earth and the moon in miles. The phone version adds augmented reality, so you can point your device to see where the spacecraft sits relative to Earth. Data comes from sensors aboard Orion and reaches Mission Control in Houston, with updates starting about a minute after liftoff and continuing for roughly ten days.
The crew arrived in Florida on March 27 after preflight quarantine. Reid Wiseman commands, Victor Glover pilots, and Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency serve as mission specialists. For Hansen, this is his first flight to space.
Artemis II is chiefly a test. The crew will check systems on a loop around the moon before a future landing attempt. If weather or a spacecraft problem intervenes, backup dates are April 2 through 6 and April 30. The larger goal is a permanent foothold at the lunar south pole, and the next thing to watch is whether the rocket leaves the pad on schedule.
On the afternoon of Wednesday, April 1, NASA is working toward launching four astronauts from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a trip that would carry them farther from Earth than any humans have ever gone. The launch window runs two hours and opens at 6:24 p.m. Eastern. For anyone who wants to watch the journey unfold rather than just read about it afterward, the agency has built a tool for exactly that.
The tool is called the Artemis Real-time Orbit Website, or AROW. It runs in a desktop browser and as part of NASA's mobile app. According to NASA, it shows where the Orion spacecraft is, how fast it is moving, and how far it sits from both Earth and the moon, with distances given in miles.
The desktop version also lays out key mission milestones and offers facts about the moon, including details on Apollo-era landing sites. The smartphone version is similar but adds an augmented reality feature: move your phone, and it shows where Orion is at that moment relative to Earth.
The numbers come from sensors aboard Orion, 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 ten days later.
The rocket carrying the capsule is NASA's 322-foot Space Launch System. NASA puts the odds of favorable weather at 80 percent. If weather or a spacecraft problem stops the launch, backup dates are available April 2 through 6, and again on April 30.
The crew arrived in Florida on March 27 after entering standard preflight quarantine to avoid illness. Reid Wiseman, a Baltimore native, is commander; he last flew in 2014 on a Russian Soyuz to the International Space Station. Victor Glover, from Pomona, California, is pilot; he flew to the station in 2020 on a SpaceX mission. Christina Koch, from Grand Rapids, Michigan, is a mission specialist who holds several space agency records and flew a Soyuz station mission in 2019. Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency is also a mission specialist, and this 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 systems and hardware on a ten-day loop around the moon and back, ahead of a landing attempt. In 2027, another crew is due to take Orion to Earth orbit to test docking with one or both of the commercial lunar landers being developed by SpaceX and Blue Origin. A landing would follow in 2028 under Artemis IV.
The larger aim is to put astronauts on the lunar surface for the first time since Apollo ended in 1972, and to establish a permanent foothold at the lunar south pole through a series of crewed and uncrewed missions. NASA has described that base as a possible stepping stone toward Mars. The next thing to watch is simple: whether the rocket leaves the pad on April 1, or whether one of the backup dates is needed.
Citations marquantes
NASA gives an 80% chance of favorable weather for the launch.— NASA, as reported by the Register-Guard
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