Artemis II sits in Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building on Jan. 16, 2026 at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., ahead of the rollout to Launch Pad 39B for the crewed lunar mission. Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.—NASA leadership confirmed on March 12 that they were targeting 6:24 p.m. on April 1 as the newest, earliest opportunity for Artemis II, humanity’s first manned mission around the moon in more than 50 years.
That decision to go was made after an extensive launch readiness review was conducted on the Space Launch System moon rocket and Orion spacecraft after it was brought back inside the Vehicle Assembly Building from the launch pad on Feb. 25.
