NASA’s Artemis II crew is strapped in and their Orion spacecraft is sealed as the countdown continues for the first crewed deep-space mission in more than 50 years. The launch window opens at 6:24 p.m. EDT on Wednesday at Launch Complex 39B. Live coverage of the launch is available to stream via  NASA’s official broadcast.
NASA astronauts Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, and Mission Specialist Christina Koch, alongside Canadian Space Agency Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen, are slated to embark on an approximately 10-day journey around the moon and back to Earth.
With weather conditions currently rated 90% favorable for liftoff, the closeout crew successfully completed their final tasks and departed the launch pad late Wednesday afternoon. This transition shifted responsibility to the launch control team for the final countdown.
During the afternoon preparations, engineers swiftly resolved a communication issue with the Eastern Range’s flight termination system hardware. The critical safety system, which allows ground controllers to destruct the rocket if it veers off course, underwent a confidence test to ensure its readiness. Launch controllers also investigated a temperature sensor on the launch abort system’s attitude control motor controller battery. The slightly elevated temperature was determined to be an instrumentation issue that will not impact the flight.
The launch marks a significant milestone in human space exploration. During the lunar flyby phase, the crew will travel on a free-return trajectory that is expected to carry them farther from Earth than any previous human mission, potentially breaking the distance record of about 248,655 miles set by Apollo 13 in 1970.
The Artemis II test flight aims to evaluate Orion’s life-support systems and critical deep-space operations, laying the groundwork for future lunar landings and eventual missions to Mars.
Before departing for the launch pad in their pressure suits, the crew participated in a longstanding spaceflight tradition: playing a card game until the mission commander, Wiseman, lost. The ritual is jokingly believed to burn off the commander’s bad luck, leaving only good luck for the mission.
