9m in the past
Battery problem is not going to have an effect on launch, NASA says
A better-than-expected temperature studying from a sensor on the launch abort system’s angle management motor controller battery is “believed to be an instrumentation problem and won’t have an effect on at present’s launch,” NASA mentioned.
The closeout crew has completed its work and left Pad 39B forward of launch.
With about half-hour to go earlier than the launch window opened, NASA mentioned the climate was 90% go for launch.
35m in the past
NASA troubleshooting new problem with launch abort system battery temperature
NASA commentator Derrol Nail mentioned the launch staff is troubleshooting a brand new problem involving a temperature studying coming from considered one of two batteries on Orion’s Launch Abort System. It is presently out of vary, and could also be a sensor problem. The staff is investigating.
Nail mentioned the difficulty will not be a constraint for launch proper now, however it will be a constraint is the issue persists when the temperature is checked once more inside terminal rely.
In the meantime, the climate forecast has improved — now 90% go.
50m in the past
Launch abort system hatch closed
Technicians have completed closing the launch abort system hatch, NASA mentioned, describing it as “a vital step that ensures the Orion spacecraft is totally sealed and prepared for flight.”
The hatch is an added barrier to guard the astronauts throughout flight and “allow a speedy escape within the occasion of an emergency.”
NASA mentioned the hatch closure is without doubt one of the “final main milestones earlier than fueling and launch.”
5:16 PM
NASA says now a “GO” for launch
NASA commentator Derrol Nail mentioned the flight termination problem has been resolved and the Japanese Vary is now GO for launch.
5:11 PM
NASA getting ready to check answer to downside with flight termination system
NASA mentioned in an announcement it has “devised a technique to confirm the [flight termination] system and are presently getting ready to check this answer.”
4:48 PM
Launch presently “NO-GO” as NASA troubleshoots problem
The launch staff is presently “NO-GO” for launch resulting from a difficulty with a key security system. “NO-GO” doesn’t imply the launch has been scrubbed, and NASA is continuing within the hopes the issue can be fastened in time for launch.
NASA commentator Darrel Nail mentioned the Japanese Vary, which controls the airspace within the launch hall, is engaged on a difficulty associated to the rocket’s Flight Termination System, a security system used to ship a self-destruct sign to the rocket within the occasion it veers off path. It’s required for launch.
The Japanese Vary has requested the launch staff for help to assist confirm the troubleshooting they’re doing to resolve the issue.
The launch director has given the Flight Termination System console operator contained in the firing room permission to go over to the Car Meeting Constructing subsequent door to find a bit of heritage gear that was used in the course of the house shuttle program that is in a position to obtain instructions from the vary associated to the Flight Termination System to assist confirm the troubleshooting efforts.
The launch staff is constant to maneuver ahead with the countdown, hoping the difficulty is resolved in time.
4:09 PM
Technicians putting in crew module hatch service panel
Technicians have begun putting in the crew module hatch service panel, which “protects key connections and ensures the hatch space is safe for flight,” NASA mentioned.
Groups are additionally checking that all the pieces across the hatch is correctly sealed, NASA mentioned.
4:04 PM
Crew closing Orion’s 2 open hatches
The closeout crew is within the strategy of closing Orion’s two open hatches: the Crew Module facet hatch and the Launch Abort System hatch.
The Crew Module facet hatch cowl is eliminated, and the seals are greased, cleaned and inspected earlier than the 500-pound hatch door is shut and latched utilizing particular instruments, together with a socket wrench and ratchet.
The closeout crew will then pressurize the Crew Module facet hatch with gaseous nitrogen in order that it may be rapidly opened within the occasion of an emergency exit. Then they’ll carry out a leak verify of the hatch seal and the cabin, take away window covers and set up thermal safety panels.
As soon as the leak checks are full, the closeout crew will shut the 700-pound LAS hatch. The LAS hatch supplies entry to the Orion crew module by way of the outer aeroshell of the launch abort system and have to be securely sealed to make sure crew security throughout ascent.
Even a single strand of hair contained in the hatch seal may doubtlessly pose points with closing and sealing both hatch.
After each hatches are secured, the closeout crew does a ultimate inspection of the automobile, searching for any indicators of injury, validating mechanical seals, verifying environmental circumstances and performing ultimate leak checks. Then they configure the “white room” for an emergency exit. This entails a couple of minutes of additional work to make sure there’s sufficient clearance to open the hatches in an emergency and for the astronauts to rapidly escape.
The closeout crew is scheduled to depart the launch pad about 50 minutes earlier than liftoff — or simply earlier than the countdown clock enters a deliberate maintain on the T-10-minute mark.
3:04 PM
Anticipating a “loopy first day” in house
The crew will spend their first 24 hours in house orbiting the Earth and working checks on their Orion capsule, ensuring the communications, navigation, propulsion, maneuvering and life help programs are working correctly earlier than heading to the moon.
These exams embrace “waste assortment,” NASA’s approach of referring to make use of of the capsule’s cramped rest room compartment. The entire testing can be carried out whereas the spacecraft is shut sufficient to get house rapidly within the occasion of any main issues.
“It’s a loopy first day,” Wiseman, the Artemis II commander, advised CBS Information.
“That one 24-hour orbit offers us time to take a look at all of (Orion’s) environmental management, life help programs,” Wiseman mentioned. “Can it scrub our carbon dioxide? Can it hold us alive? Can we drink water? Can we go to the lavatory? All these primary human capabilities.”
“We have got to go get these issues examined earlier than we press out to the moon,” he added.
Learn extra right here.
2:59 PM
The place is Artemis II launching from?
The Artemis II mission is launching from the Kennedy House Middle in Florida, utilizing the historic Launch Advanced 39B.
Pad 39B is a 344-acre website which has supported 60 launches, beginning with Apollo 10 on Might 18, 1969, the flight to rehearse the primary moon touchdown.
Three missions to the Skylab house station launched from right here in 1973-1974. In 1975, three Apollo astronauts launched from 39B for the historic Apollo-Soyuz Check Mission mission to hyperlink up with a Soviet crew in house.
Between 1986 and 2006, 53 House Shuttle launches lifted off from Pad 39B, together with Challenger’s ultimate flight on Jan. 28, 1986, which resulted in catastrophe.
2:52 PM
How lengthy will it take Artemis II to get to the moon, and the way lengthy will or not it’s in house?
The crew will spend their first 24 hours or so in orbit across the Earth doing checks of the spacecraft. Then, if all the pieces is in good working order, an engine firing referred to as the “trans-lunar injection,” or TLI, will enhance them on a path to the moon.
From that time, it is roughly a four-day journey to the far facet of the moon and one other 4 days again to Earth.
From launch the night of April 1 to splashdown on April 10, the mission is slated to final about 9 and a half days.
2:44 PM
Crew members board Orion spacecraft
The 4 astronauts who will crew the Artemis II mission boarded NASA’s Orion spacecraft at round 2:30 p.m. Subsequent, they’re scheduled to begin performing communication and go well with leak checks because the closeout staff helps fasten their helmets, gloves and seatbelts, mentioned NASA.
Earlier than coming into Orion, every of the astronauts signed their names on the wall of the “white room,” which is an enclosed house related to the doorway of the spacecraft. That is a pre-launch custom first conceived throughout NASA’s early Gemini program, in accordance with the company.
2:30 PM
Artemis II spacesuits can defend astronauts even in “worst case” state of affairs
When the 4 Artemis II astronauts launch into house for his or her mission to the far facet of the moon, they will be carrying spacesuits which can be designed to guard them even in a “worst case” state of affairs, the Massachusetts firm that makes them says.
The orange “Orion Crew Survival System” fits are worn throughout launch, high-risk components of the mission close to the moon and re-entry to Earth. Shane Jacobs, the chief technologist on the David Clark Firm in Worcester, mentioned the fits are custom-made for every astronaut.
“We have been growing this go well with for a few years, working hand-in-hand with our NASA companions,” Jacobs advised CBS Information Boston.
Jacobs mentioned the spacesuits will defend the astronauts within the unlikely occasion that the crew capsule loses cabin stress on the way in which to the moon.
“If that occurs, you may’t simply flip round and are available again house,” he mentioned. “You have to really proceed all the way in which to the moon, loop across the moon identical to Apollo 13 did, and are available again.”
Learn CBS Boston’s full story right here.
2:23 PM
Astronauts arrive at launch website
The Artemis II crew has arrived at launch pad 39B.
From there, one insertion technician will get out with the crew and escort them as much as the launch tower.
The group will take two units of elevators, one from the floor of the launch pad to the cell launch tower’s “zero deck,” after which a second from “zero deck” to the 274-foot crew entry degree.
The crew can be carrying inexperienced baggage containing their go well with helmets, gloves, communication caps and private objects like studying glasses.
From the final elevator, the crew will stroll across the 274-foot platform and throughout the 60-foot-long crew entry arm resulting in their moonship. On the finish of the arm is the “white room,” a small, environmentally managed house used for ultimate preparations, similar to donning helmets and gloves. The astronauts will start a roughly 40-minute strategy of getting strapped into their seats.
2:14 PM
Artemis II crew heading to launch pad
The Artemis II crew is departing for the launch pad.
Chip Somodevilla / Getty Photographs
The crew will experience within the Airstream-built Astrovan II, a modified Airstream Atlas Touring Coach. Airstream has a historical past with NASA: the corporate provided the Cellular Quarantine Amenities used for Apollo 11, Apollo 12 and Apollo 14. The corporate additionally constructed the modified 1983 Excella motor house to move house shuttle crews to the launch pad between 1983 and 2011.
Joe Raedle / Getty Photographs
NASA is leasing the Astrovan II from Boeing, which makes use of the automobile for its Starliner program. NASA initially meant for the Artemis crews to experience in two custom-built, totally electrical vans manufactured by Canoo Applied sciences. Nevertheless, that firm filed for chapter.
The Astrovan II accommodates a driver, 4 crew members, and two insertion technicians to help with any go well with points. The Canoo vans can be out there as backups.
A safety escort will accompany the convoy on their 11-mile journey from the Operations & Checkout Constructing to Launch Pad 39B.
2:01 PM
Rescue and closeout crews arrive at launch complicated
Pad rescue groups and closeout crews arrived on the launch complicated, as fueling operations drew on into the mid-afternoon, in accordance with NASA.
The company mentioned each teams of specialists “play an important function in defending pad personnel and {hardware} all through the countdown” to launch, and their presence on the launch pad signaled that preparations remained on-track. Rescue groups are educated to answer any unlikely emergency and safely evacuate crews from the launch space, whereas closeout crews will completely examine the Orion spacecraft earlier than it is cleared for liftoff.
“These groups are important for mitigating threat and supporting the complicated choreography of Artemis II’s prelaunch actions,” mentioned NASA.
1:34 PM
Crew spent weeks in quarantine, on managed sleep schedule and food regimen
The crew started their quarantine interval on March 18 to make sure they stayed wholesome main as much as launch. That meant avoiding shut contact with anybody not quarantining alongside them, maintaining to only a small circle of colleagues and relations whereas persevering with coaching actions and reviewing procedures for the upcoming mission.
NASA says the astronauts have additionally been following a managed sleep schedule and diet plan to keep up vitality and hydration for launch.
1:18 PM
Artemis II crew is suiting up
The Artemis II crew is now suiting up contained in the house heart’s Operations & Checkout Constructing, just some miles from the launch pad.
NASA TV
They got the inexperienced mild to start placing on their gear following Launch Director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson’s promising afternoon climate replace. Though officers say they’re watching some rain showers offshore that seem like transferring towards the launch space, the showers are anticipated to dissipate because the launch window nears.
Tanking has continued to progress easily, with gas ranges in three out of the rocket’s 4 tanks at 100% of the place they must be for the flight.
1:05 PM
Astronauts obtain afternoon climate briefing
The Artemis II astronauts obtained their ultimate climate briefing simply after 12:30 p.m. on the Kennedy House Middle, mentioned NASA. The replace offered Wiseman, Glover, Koch and Hansen, in addition to different groups concerned within the mission, with details about present circumstances on the launch pad, restoration zones within the surrounding space and potential “abort websites” on the rocket’s route, in accordance with the company.
Climate officers positioned the chance of favorable circumstances at 80% for the time of the launch, which was unchanged from the quantity forecasters gave earlier within the morning. The primary considerations are thunderstorm clouds, rain and wind, which may hamper the launch schedule.
“With the climate briefing full, the crew and floor groups stay aligned and able to proceed towards liftoff, maintaining Artemis II on monitor for its historic mission to ship astronauts across the Moon,” mentioned NASA.
12:45 PM
NASA’s House Launch System (SLS) rocket making its first crewed launch
The Artemis II crew, of their Orion capsule, will launch atop NASA’s House Launch System rocket, probably the most highly effective operational booster on this planet.
Standing 322 toes tall and weighing 5.7 million kilos at liftoff, the SLS rocket launches with 8.8 million kilos of thrust, utilizing two prolonged shuttle-era solid-fuel boosters and 4 leftover house shuttle major engines to propel the eight-minute climb to house.
Brendan McDermid / REUTERS
That is solely the second SLS launch, and the primary one carrying astronauts to house. An SLS rocket efficiently launched an uncrewed take a look at flight to the moon in 2022 referred to as Artemis I.
12:34 PM
NASA’s newest gas replace
Groups at the moment are sustaining the liquid oxygen ranges within the rocket’s core stage to make sure it is ready for flight all through the remainder of the launch countdown, NASA mentioned. On the similar time, they’re additionally bringing the rocket’s higher stage nearer to being thought of totally able to propel the Artemis crew into an orbit excessive above the Earth.
12:03 PM
Astronauts trust however perceive the dangers: “You’ll be able to lose a crew”
The astronauts expressed confidence that the rocket and their Orion capsule will carry them safely across the moon and again, however additionally they perceive the dangers inherent within the mission.
“It is a take a look at flight, and we’ve got to be prepared to take that threat,” mission specialist Jeremy Hansen mentioned in an interview with CBS Information. “And that is the one which I discuss to my household about. I am very optimistic. I really consider the almost definitely final result is we’ll all be completely nice after we hit the Pacific Ocean 9 and a half days later.
“However I need everybody to grasp which you can lose a crew. And if we do, that should not shock us. And crucial factor we do subsequent is we stack the subsequent rocket, and we would let the subsequent 4 volunteers get on prime of it and go.”
11:59 AM
Crowd gathers at standard NASA viewing spot
A thousand individuals have already convened in House View Park, a riverside park within the metropolis of Titusville, Florida, which is a well-liked sightseeing location for NASA launches. From 15 miles away, it gives guests a transparent view of the launch pad.
11:33 AM
Gasoline crews hold making progress, NASA says
Groups are persevering with to make progress as they gas the rocket. NASA mentioned crews efficiently accomplished the topping section for its liquid hydrogen tank, which the company referred to as “a crucial step” that ensures the tank reaches full capability, and have since moved on to “replenish mode.” That is when small quantities of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen are repeatedly added to tanks in an effort to counteract pure evaporation.
11:07 AM
A whole bunch of standards have to be good for launch
There are about 500 launch commit standards, a strict algorithm and circumstances that have to be met for Artemis II to launch. A violation of any one of many launch commit standards may halt the countdown or scrub the launch.
In some instances, the launch director, in session with the Mission Administration Staff, may select to waive sure standards if they’ve flight rationale, or justification and proof demonstrating that it will be secure to proceed.
Some 12,000 completely different measurements are being monitored in real-time.
11:00 AM
Hopeful spectators buzz with anticipation: “This, to me, is historical past”
Spectators have been tenting out close to the Kennedy House Middle in hopes of catching a glimpse of the launch later at present.
“This, to me, is historical past,” considered one of them advised CBS Information. “Watching this, if these astronauts go up and do what they’ll do, it will be simply superior.”
One other mentioned he remembered watching protection of the Apollo flight as a toddler, on a black-and-white TV, and was decided to see this one in particular person.
10:34 AM
Retired NASA astronaut says Artemis crew is “relaxed” and “in nice spirits”
The Artemis crew is “in nice spirits” forward of their scheduled launch, retired NASA astronaut and ISS commander Leroy Chiao advised CBS Information on Wednesday morning, shortly after the crew members awakened.
“The crew could be very relaxed,” Chiao mentioned. “They have been coaching for a very long time. They have been trying ahead to today for a very long time.”
Watch the total interview right here.
9:56 AM
Crew wakes as much as start their launch day
NASA says the 4 Artemis II astronauts have formally begun their launch day with a scheduled wake-up name at 9:25 a.m. EDT, marking the beginning of their ultimate preparations for launch.
They will have a meal, attend a climate briefing, after which head to the suit-up room at round 12:50 p.m. to placed on their orange Orion Crew Survival System fits.
They’re scheduled to depart for the launch pad about 4 hours, 40 minutes earlier than launch. However their departure time could possibly be a transferring goal relying on whether or not the launch staff encountered any delays with propellant loading.
When it is time to go, the crew will experience the 11 miles to Pad 39B in an Airstream automobile referred to as the Astrovan II. The journey takes about 20 minutes.
The crew can be carrying inexperienced baggage containing their go well with helmets, gloves, communication caps, and any last-minute private objects similar to studying glasses.
They will take two elevators to the 274-foot crew entry degree. On the finish of the 60-foot-long crew entry arm is the “white room,” a small, environmentally managed house used for ultimate preparations, similar to donning helmets and gloves.
Then the astronauts will start a roughly 40-minute strategy of getting strapped into their seats.
Helping them can be a five-person staff referred to as the closeout crew, which is accountable for closing and performing leak checks on Orion’s hatches and are the final individuals the astronauts see earlier than launch.
9:48 AM
Coast Guard to shut some waterways round launch website
The USA Coast Guard will shut sure waterways across the Artemis launch website on Wednesday, the company mentioned, blocking or limiting mariners’ entry to areas round Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Within the hours main as much as launch, Coast Guard crews set up a “safety zone,” “security zone” and “regulated navigation space,” which can’t be transited with out formal approval.
Persons are additionally suggested to keep away from waters exterior of these designated areas for a window of time across the rocket’s deliberate liftoff as a result of “hazardous circumstances could also be current in occasion of an area automobile malfunction,” the Coast Guard mentioned. Hazards may embrace falling particles or automobile parts that might harm vessels under.
A map illustrating the Coast Guard’s restrictions is posted right here.
9:40 AM
Fueling progressing in accordance with plan, NASA says
Fueling the rocket is progressing as deliberate. NASA says the launch staff transitioned to the quick fill of liquid hydrogen into the rocket’s core stage, a step that brings the huge tanks nearer to full capability, after the gradual fill of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen.
8:20 AM
Climate forecast trying good for launch
To date, forecasters are predicting an 80% probability of favorable climate circumstances at launch time, with some threat of clouds, wind and showers. Tonight’s 2-hour window exhibits mild winds, largely clear skies and temperatures within the mid 70s.
There are very particular climate standards that have to be met for the launch to proceed:
- Temperatures have to be above 41.4 levels Fahrenheit and can’t rise above 94.5 levels for longer than half-hour.
- Winds can not exceed 33 mph at 132.5 toes and can’t exceed 45 mph at 457.5 toes.
- There can’t be liftoff for at the least half-hour after lightning strikes inside a ten mile radius.
- Thunderstorm clouds (cumulonimbus) have to be greater than 3 miles away, clouds over 4,500 toes thick have to be greater than 5 miles away, cumulus clouds have to be greater than 10 miles away, and there can’t be any smoke plumes close by.
- There can’t be any precipitation falling.
7:52 AM
Launch staff approves fueling up the rocket
Within the first main choice level of the day, NASA says the launch staff has polled “go” to start tanking the House Launch System (SLS) rocket. At 8:29 a.m. EDT, they’ll start filling the automobile with about 756,000 gallons of cryogenic liquid propellant.
The core stage can be crammed with:
- 537,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen (LH2) chilled all the way down to -423° Fahrenheit
- 196,000 gallons of liquid oxygen (LOX) chilled all the way down to -297° Fahrenheit
The higher stage, or Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS), can be crammed with:
- 17,000 gallons of chilled liquid hydrogen (LH2)
- 5,000 gallons of chilled liquid oxygen (LOX)
CBS Information
7:52 AM
NASA chief calls Artemis II an “extraordinarily difficult” mission
Artemis II is “a take a look at flight,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman famous in an interview with CBS Information the day earlier than launch. “That is the opening act in a collection of missions that can ship astronauts to and from the moon with nice frequency as we return to remain.”
NASA intends to observe it up with further flights subsequent 12 months, at the least one lunar touchdown in 2028 and longer-term building of a moon base.
“This primary mission, that is extraordinarily difficult,” Isaacman mentioned.
“These astronauts are going to go farther from Earth than any people have ever been earlier than, doubtlessly quicker than any people have ever been earlier than.”
Watch the total interview right here.
7:52 AM
Astronauts deliver wealth of expertise to moon mission
The 4 crew members chosen for the Artemis II mission stand out even in a NASA astronaut corps filled with tremendous achievers. They’ve spent the previous three years coaching for the times forward.
NASA
Mission commander Reid Wiseman, 50, holds a level in laptop and programs engineering and a grasp’s in programs engineering. He turned a naval aviator in 1999 and joined NASA’s astronaut corps in 2009. Wiseman first flew in house in 2014, logging 165 days in orbit aboard the Worldwide House Station and finishing two spacewalks.
Artemis II pilot Victor Glover, 49, is a U.S. Navy captain with an engineering diploma and three grasp’s levels in army aviation, programs engineering and administration. He has flown greater than 400 provider flights and 24 fight missions, and piloted a SpaceX Crew Dragon flight to the Worldwide House Station in 2020-21, logging 168 days in orbit and finishing 4 spacewalks.
Mission specialist Christina Koch, 47, labored as {an electrical} engineer at NASA’s Goddard House Flight Middle, carried out analysis in Antarctica and helped develop scientific devices for house probes. An astronaut since 2013, she logged 328 days in house aboard the Worldwide House Station in 2019-20 — the longest single spaceflight by a girl — and has carried out six spacewalks.
Mission specialist Jeremy Hansen, 50, is the one spaceflight rookie on the staff. He’s from Canada and would be the first Canadian astronaut ever to journey past near-Earth orbit. He realized to fly as a teen, earned a level in house science at Royal Navy Faculty, and have become a fighter pilot earlier than becoming a member of the Canadian House Company in 2009.
Learn extra right here.
7:52 AM
The place is Artemis II going?
Artemis II is a flight to the moon — however the astronauts is not going to land on the moon or go into orbit round it. As a substitute, they’ll loop behind it and get an unprecedented view of the far facet of the moon.
Within the course of, they’re anticipated to set a file for the farthest distance people have ever traveled from Earth: 252,000 miles.
The crew will spend their first 24 hours after launch in an elliptical orbit across the Earth. Then, if all goes in accordance with plan, an important engine firing referred to as the “trans-lunar injection,” or TLI, will enhance the ship’s velocity by about 900 mph, simply sufficient to push it out of Earth orbit to start the four-day coast to the moon.
The spacecraft can be on a “free return” trajectory, utilizing lunar gravity to bend the ship’s path again towards Earth, the place it is going to return for splashdown within the Pacific Ocean on April 10.
Graphic by Jonathan WALTER and Paz PIZARRO / AFP by way of Getty Photographs
7:52 AM
Countdown underway after a number of delays to repair points
Artemis II initially deliberate to take off in early February, however the flight was delayed repeatedly.
The first setback got here within the type of hydrogen gas leaks throughout a dress-rehearsal countdown. Then issues arose with the higher stage propellant pressurization system.
NASA says each points have been resolved, lastly clearing the way in which for launch.
Greater than 48 hours earlier than liftoff, the official countdown clocks started ticking at 4:44 p.m. EDT Monday afternoon.
7:52 AM
Methods to watch NASA’s Artemis II moon launch
CBS Information 24/7 could have dwell streaming protection beginning at 4 p.m. EDT for the countdown to the launch. Watch dwell within the video participant on this web page or obtain the free CBS Information app.
- What: NASA launches the Artemis II mission to fly astronauts across the moon.
- Date: Wednesday, April 1, 2026.
- Time: Launch window opens at 6:24 p.m. EDT.
- Location: Kennedy House Middle, Florida.
- On TV: A CBS Information Particular Report anchored by Tony Dokoupil airs on CBS tv stations beginning at 6 p.m. EDT. Discover your native station right here.
- On-line stream: Watch dwell on CBS Information within the video participant above and in your cell or streaming machine.
Protection plans topic to vary.
