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.
Just over a day from now, four astronauts may well be on their way to the Moon. Weather continues to be 80 percent favorable for launch at 6:24 pm ET on April 1 from Kennedy Space Center, FL, the opening of a two-hour launch window. No technical issues are being worked. If all goes as planned, three NASA astronauts and one from Canada will be the first humans to travel around the Moon since the Apollo era.
The Artemis II crew, rocket, and spacecraft are ready for liftoff on Wednesday, April 1, 2026 at 6:24 pm ET. No technical issues are currently being worked, with weather the only potential constraint and even that is 80 percent favorable. Sending four human beings to the distance of the Moon for the first time since 1972 seems close at hand.
Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of March 29-April 4, 2026 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in recess this week except for pro forma sessions.
NASA astronaut Mike Fincke is sharing more about the medical event that caused an early end to the Crew-11 mission aboard the International Space Station. In an interview with the Associated Press, he said it happened with no warning and passed quickly, but doctors still do not understand the cause.
The four astronauts who will fly around the Moon as soon as next week and their backups arrived at Kennedy Space Center this afternoon. Full of enthusiasm, they also conveyed that they know weather or other factors could delay the launch, but whenever it happens, they are ready.