Yes, the launch was spectacular. I wathed it from outside the Eagles last night. Then went inside and watched on TV when it was out of sight. WoW

Watch The Launch Again - scroll to 21 minutes(1 min to launch)

Sounds of Artemis I - A night time launch scroll to 3 minutes then 7 for the last recordings from the Mobile Launcher Platform/Launch Umbilical Tower - click through the pics

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There are "look backs" during certain times, when the astronauts are sleeping for one:

24/7 Live Coverage Continues - The Orion is on a high orbit around Earth after a series of burns. After a few hours of sleep a "Perigee Raise Burn(PBR)" took place, 8:15 am EST, putting Orion on an even higher orbit for a Trans Lunar Injection(TLI) burn tonight at 7:50 pm EST, if all goes well, that will send them on a course to the moon. The SLS is completely autonomous. The spacecraft's Guidance Navigation and Control Systems completed "star field maneuvers" so it knows where it is and where it is going before that PRB burn, amazing

"star field maneuvers": The way a spacecraft orients itself using stellar tracking cameras to determine its orientation (attitude) while navigating through space

The astronauts are taking a nap

EDIT: They are up getting ready for their busy day. Communications have begun checking all systems, life support etc before the TLI burn which will put them on a trajectory to the moon

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In 2017 when Artimus program started some of the technology hadn't been developed yet. It had to be developed. The Apollo computers were a 16 bit system with 4kb of ram yet successfully guided astronauts to the moon. The shuttle program used 5 main computers, 16 bits with 32 bit registers. The Artemis program uses 2 vehicle management computers and 6 power and data units. They are 20,000 times faster and have 128,000 times more memory then the Apollo computers had

I don't think I could sleep

I'm still excited too mbday630...it's been a long time coming!

We've come a long way!!!

This morning on my walk with that full moon so bright and shining I could imagined I saw a tiny speck headed for the moon...

I don't think I could sleep either soot, especially when we were coming up on the moon. You and I both would be glued to the windows


NASA'S Deep Space Network - keeping in touch with Integrity while in deep space

NASA's Set Coverage - times are EST. Mission Map

NASA's Artemis II Live Views from Orion

This is some excellent live mission coverage. Thursday at 7:50 pm EST a 5:50 minute Trans Lunar Ignition(TLI) burn has the Orion pulling away from the earth. Next stop........the moon. You can check the distance of the craft moving away from Earth and the distance they have left to the moon bottom right during animation views on the live feed

** Now that the crew is on their way to the moon they hope to have the cameras on inside the Orion capsule as much as possible


If you missed the 3 events that happened on thursday here they are:

The 6 minute Trans Lunar Ignition(TLI) burn and Mission Control's news brief after - segmented. During the burn you will see the Orion spacecraft, nicknamed "Integrity", starting to pull away from the Earth

Live event with the astronauts inside the Orion Spacecraft - 1st one, very good! As they continue with these "live downlinks" I expect a tour of the capsule and more

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Many Very Interesting Views of the Launch! - segmented

Day 4

CSA Live Downlink Event held April 4th at 1:10 am EST - CSA audio not very good

Orion's Selfie taken today from a solar array

Earth - NASA astronaut and Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman took this picture of Earth from the Orion spacecraft’s window after completing the translunar injection burn. There are two auroras (top right and bottom left) and zodiacal light (bottom right) is visible as the Earth eclipses the Sun


How to Eat in Space and Crew Menu

Space - What's out there

Day 5

Massive Update - briefing - Everything to Know Before the Artemis II Moon Encounter on 6th April

April 4th Live Downlink Event at 5:15 pm EST

Artemis II Astronaut Jeremy Hansen Speaks to Media - again not very good audio from CSA


An excellent view of the launch

Thank you Orion for this awesome information source!

It's definitely an exciting time for NASA and all who have an interest in space flight especially when it comes to going back to the moon soot


Daily highlights from the mission:

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Heartily agree. So very excited about all aspects !!

Updated/Changed

Targeting Plan for Lunar Flyby April 6th

Scroll down to Crew receives final science targets. The crew will be looking at certain targets within this target plan/guide the entire 7 hour lunar flyby. They will be following actions listed on the target plan/guide of each target, bottom right. Key goals include photographing, mapping, and analyzing over 30 geological targets such as the Orientale Basin. One of the objectives.....scouting possible landing sites past and future

Mission Control Update - Targeting the moon


The Orientale Basin shown here is one of the first stops for possible landing sites. Here is a stunning NASA video of the lunar surface in 4K using observations from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. NASA wants this area checked out for safe landing missions, life on the moon using the SpaceX human landing system under development - The Moon

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft recreated some of the stunning views of the Moon that the Apollo 13 astronauts saw on their perilous journey around the far side in 1970


Our Moon

Near Side

Far Side

Thanks for all your links, Orion! I took the time to watch the massive update briefing and was very interested in the science gathering part of it.

Day 6 - Lunar Flyby

Lunar Flyby Highlights

! Changed - Simulating the Artemis II Lunar Flyby on April 6, 2026 - give time to load. Click small increments through

Artemis II Flight Day 6: Lunar Flyby Updates

* Questions taken by the artemis crew after the lunar flyby

* Images taken by the Artemis crew during lunar flyby. Images continue to be posted. You may have to refresh a couple of times to get the images of the moon - Venus captured during solar eclipse

The flyby around the moon was absolutely out of this world. Not only was the crew getting views of the far side of the moon, views never seen by human eyes, they got a view of the earth getting eclipsed going behind the moon on the right causing a loss of communications with the earth. The earth slowly came out from behind the left side of the moon allowing communications to resume with Mission Control. The blackout lasted 41 Minutes. They also got a view of a solar eclipse, sun going behind the moon. During that dark period behind the moon they were able to see a few micro meteorites strikes on the moon appearing as white flashes. That had to be an amazing site. The solar eclipse lasted 1 hour

During the eclipse Mercury, Venus, Mars and Saturn came into view for imaging. They got amazing views from behind the moon during the flyby, totally SCI-FI

Two Unnamed craters were named on the far side of the moon, one named Integrity and the other named after commander Reid Wiseman's late wife Carroll. It broke him up - Naming the Craters


Optical/Lazer Communication(O2O) used on Artemis II - During the Apollo era it took 1.3 seconds for communications to reach earth and took longer for data. Data transfers are 40x faster now using O2O

Do you know how much earth's cloudy skies effect (attenuation) the O2O communications?

Here is an explanation soot. Atmospheric conditions do affect O2O communications but there is a remedy

Deep Space Network

Great information

Have you been getting any sleep Orion?

About the same as the astronauts maybe less

Day 7 - They are on their way home after an amazing trip around the moon

The crew had a relaxing day after a busy lunar flyby on day 6

The crew did a "Ship to ship" call to the International Space Station at 2:40 pm EST

Mission Briefing Update on Flyby

A short "return trajectory correction-1 burn" was performed at 8:03 pm EST to keep Orion on a correct trajectory back to earth


! Check Day 6 for lunar flyby updates

Day 8 - Crew wake up at 11:35 am EST

* This is a very good video of day 6's images showing images taken, the solar eclipse, the planets seen during, naming of 2 craters and the crew themselves - 11 minutes

* Images taken by the Artemis crew - continued image downloads/postings. You may have to refresh a couple of times to get the images of the moon. Click on images to enlarge and for a description


Artemis II Daily Schedule and Moon Mission Daily Agenda

Live Coverage - Highlights of previous events are shown at times while crew sleeps

Live Views From Orion - images not available at times

Track Artemis - This is telemetry of the spacecraft in real time. Left click hold to swing around. Click on bottom left for more tracking options

Updates on the Mission


* Orion's Crew Systems


Launch Plume


! Check day 7 for changes/updates