NASA targets April 1, 2026, launch date for Artemis II crewed moon mission

NASA is targeting an April 1 launch for the Artemis II mission around the moon, marking the first human lunar flight since Apollo in 1972.

Officials said Thursday that they have completed the flight readiness review (FRR) and are ready to send the rocket back to the pad on March 19 and then do the final configuration for launch.

The potential launch of the 10-day mission is scheduled for April 1 at 6:24 PM ET, with a backup date of April 2 at 7:22 PM.

“At the end of FRR, all the teams that participated in the survey go to launch Artemis II and fly it around the moon, waiting for some work to be completed before we get to the launch pad,” Lori Glaze, associate administrator for the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, said at a news conference at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. he said.

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“This is a test flight and it is not without risks, but our crew and equipment are ready,” Glaze said. he added.

Artemis II was scheduled to launch in early February, but the mission was delayed due to the discovery of fuel leaks during the test run. A helium leak was later detected at the end of the month. The Space Launch System (SLS) rocket was transferred from the launch pad back to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) for repairs that were nearly completed.

When asked about the risks of Artemis II, John Honeycutt, head of the Artemis II Mission Management Team, said the mission’s chances of success range from one in two to one in 50.

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The crew of NASA’s Artemis II mission are (left to right): NASA astronauts Christina Hamak Koch, Reid Wiseman (seated), Victor Glover, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen. (NASA)

Honeycutt later said that he did not want the success of the mission to be seen as a 50-50 proposition.

“If you look at the data over time, over the lifetime of building new rockets, the data shows you that one in two people are successful. You’re only successful 50% of the time,” Honeycutt said. “I think we’re in a much better position than that.

“I don’t want people to take this to mean that we should be afraid of flying because we’re not afraid of flying,” he added. “We do an outstanding job of understanding risk, buying into risk, mitigating risk, and putting together controls to manage risk.”

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Lori Glaze, deputy administrator for NASA’s Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, and John Honeycutt, head of the Artemis II Mission Management Team, addressed reporters at a press conference held at Kennedy Space Center. (Gregg Newton/AFP via Getty Images)

NASA also said it would not conduct another “wet dress rehearsal,” a pre-launch fuel test, for Artemis II.

“The next time we put the vehicle into storage, I’d like it to be on a day when we can actually launch it. I’d like to do it on launch day,” Glaze said. “And if we can successfully fill the vehicle completely, I want to be able to go to launch.”

He added that NASA did not want to use any days in the April launch window for a wet dress rehearsal.

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NASA’s Artemis II Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft are seen at Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on February 20, 2026. (Gregg Newton/AFP via Getty Images)

The Artemis program was first created by President Donald Trump in December 2017 during his first term.

The four astronauts aboard Artemis II – Americans Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, and Canadian Jeremy Hansen – are expected to orbit the moon before returning home in what will be the longest human spaceflight ever.

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NASA said that Artemis III, Artemis IV and Artemis V are expected to be launched before the end of Trump’s term, while Artemis IV and V aim to return astronauts to the lunar surface.

Fox News Digital’s Preston Mizell and Brie Stimson contributed to this report.