The Artemis II crew continued a variety of tests of the Orion capsule today as they began preparations for splashdown in the Pacific Ocean in less than two days. They are now about 181,000 miles (291,291 kilometers) from Earth and getting closer every minute.
The Artemis II crew is on their way back to Earth after swinging around the Moon yesterday. Stunning images of both the Moon and the Earth have been downlinked already with more to come, exciting scientists and stirring the spirit. With the exception of the still troublesome toilet, the Orion capsule and its European Service Module are performing very well, though NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman says he won’t relax until the crew splashes down in the Pacific Ocean on Friday.
The four Artemis II astronauts set a new record today for the furthest any humans have traveled from Earth, swinging around the Moon and then heading back towards Earth. Their day began with a message from Jim Lovell, one of the first astronauts to orbit the Moon who recorded it last year a few months before he passed away. The day ended with a congratulatory chat with President Trump. In-between was an intense day of scientific observations that left them at a loss for superlatives to describe it all.
Today four astronauts will fly around the Moon for the first time since 1972. The crew of Artemis II is closing in on the Moon and around lunchtime will surpass the record for the furthest anyone has traveled from Earth. For about seven hours they will make scientific observations of the lunar surface, including parts human eyes have never seen. They also will be out of contact with Earth for 40 minutes when the Moon blocks communications.
Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of April 5-11, 2026 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in recess this week except for pro forma sessions.
The Artemis II crew continues on a smooth course to the Moon today. NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen are now about halfway to their destination, with a loop around the Moon on Monday.
Like last year, the Trump Administration’s FY2027 budget request for NASA proposes deep cuts to everything other than human exploration. For FY2027, the agency would be cut 23 percent to $18.8 billion, the same level the White House proposed for FY2026. Congress rejected the FY2026 proposal and kept the agency funded at roughly the same appropriated level as FY2025. Congress also added almost $10 billion in last summer’s reconciliation bill, although that was for mostly for human spaceflight, not the rest of NASA’s portfolio. What will happen this year is anyone’s guess.
After a day in earth orbit checking out systems on the Orion capsule, the Artemis II crew is headed to the Moon. Earlier today the Mission Management Team gave them permission to proceed to the next step, the Trans-Lunar Injection or TLI burn. They fired the Service Module’s main engine at 7:49 pm EDT (23:49 UTC) and are on their way to go around the Moon, the first humans to travel that far from Earth since the Apollo era.
All the hard work to get the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft ready to send four people around the Moon for the first time in 53 years paid off today. The few technical hiccups that arose during the countdown were quickly resolved. Liftoff was at 6:35:12 pm ET, just a few minutes past the opening of the two-hour launch window.
It may be April Fool’s Day to some, but to NASA it’s launch day to send humans around the Moon for the first time in more than 50 years. As of noon ET, everything is going according to plan and the weather outlook remains 80 percent favorable. The 2-hour launch window today opens at 6:24 pm ET.