Countdown underway for astronaut Moon flight that will land off San Diego

Dante Ulanday - News Moderator Dante Ulanday - News Moderator
Mar 31, 2026 - 21:03
Countdown underway for astronaut Moon flight that will land off San Diego
Artemis II on the launch pad
Artemis II on the launch pad
Media aim their remote cameras on NASA’s Artemis II Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft at Launch Complex 39B on Sunday.(Photo by Bill Ingalls/NASA)

The countdown is underway for the first flight by astronauts to the Moon in almost 54 years with NASA reporting the space vehicle is in “excellent shape” for launch on Wednesday afternoon.

Four astronauts aboard Artemis II are scheduled to blast off from Cape Canaveral at 3:34 p.m. Pacific Time for a nearly 10-day flight that will take them around the Moon and back to Earth with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off San Diego.

It will be the first crewed flight for NASA’s giant Space Launch System rocket and Orion capsule. The uncrewed Artemis I mission, using a similar rocket and capsule, flew to the moon in late 2022 in a successful test flight.

The Artemis II crew, NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, are at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida preparing for the flight.

Artemis II astronauts
Artemis II astronauts Victor Glover (left), Jeremy Hansen, Reid Wiseman and Christina Koch pose inside an Orion mockup at Naval Base San Diego in 2023. (File photo courtesy of the Navy)

NASA said the weather forecast shows an 80% chance of favorable conditions, with cloud cover and potential for high winds on the ground as the primary concerns.

The agency reported Tuesday afternoon that the giant rocket’s four main engines and upper stage were ready for flight, and brought the Orion spacecraft’s flight batteries to full charge. Early Wednesday morning, the launch team will begin loading the liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellent.

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

The space agency attempted a launch in February, but intermittent hydrogen leaks forced a postponement to allow repairs to the 34-story-high rocket. If the launch is delayed again, NASA has additional opportunities through April 6.

Artemis II will follow a “free return” trajectory, with the Moon’s gravity slinging the Orion capsule back toward Earth, where it will re-enter the atmosphere at 25,000 miles per hour.

After splashdown, the Navy will recover the crew and spacecraft using a San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship from Naval Base San Diego.

Both NASA and SpaceX are now recovering crewed spacecraft in the Pacific off San Diego County.

NASA astronauts speak to the media about Artemis recovery procedures. (Photo by Chris Stone/Times of San Diego)
NASA astronauts speak to the media about Artemis recovery procedures at Naval Base San Diego in 2025. (File photo by Chris Stone/Times of San Diego)

Updated at 3:45 p.m., Tuesday, March 31.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

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