The Orion spacecraft approaches the Moon ahead of Artemis II’s lunar flyby on April 6, 2026. NASA Live lunar flyby updates for NASA’s Artemis II mission will be published on this page. All times are Eastern. 2:45 p.m. Due to last approximately seven hours, the lunar observation period is the duration of time that the crew is close [...]
1 min read Night Sky Network Celebrates Artemis II Today, the crew of Artemis II reaches a milestone, traveling farther than any humans in recorded history, as they orbit the far side of the Moon, roughly 4,000 miles above the lunar surface. You can watch this historic broadcast on NASA’s YouTube channel today, April 6, 2026, [...]
A view of the near side of the Moon, the side we always see from Earth, as seen from the Orion spacecraft.NASA The astronauts aboard NASA’s Orion spacecraft captured this photo of the Moon’s near side on April 4, 2026. The image features dark patches at center and right; these are ancient lava flows, which [...]
(April 6, 2026) – Before going to sleep on flight day 5, the Artemis II crew snapped one more photo of the Moon, as it drew close in the window of the Orion spacecraft. Orion and the four humans aboard entered the lunar sphere of influence at 12:37 a.m. EDT on April 6, at the [...]
A view of NASA’s Orion spacecraft following its outbound correction burn, refining the spacecraft’s trajectory toward the Moon. Orion and the four crew members of the Artemis II mission will conduct a flyby around the far side of the Moon on Monday, April 6.NASA Mission control teams in Houston and the Artemis II crew completed an [...]
Peering out one of the four windows near the display console on the Orion spacecraft, the Earth is illuminated by the blackness of space and grows smaller as the crew journeys closer to the Moon. This image was taken by an Artemis II crew member on the fifth day of the mission.NASA Editor’s Note: Blog [...]
The Artemis II crew took this photo on day 4 of their journey to the Moon. In it, the Moon is oriented with the South Pole at the top and are beginning to see parts of the lunar far side. Orientale basin is on the right edge of the lunar disk in this image. Artemis [...]
NASA On April 4, 2026, NASA astronaut and Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman peers out of one of the Orion spacecraft’s main cabin windows, looking back at Earth, as the crew travels towards the Moon. The Artemis II astronauts – Wiseman and fellow NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Victor Glover, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) [...]
NASA astronaut Christina Koch, left, takes control of the Orion spacecraft during a manual piloting test on flight day 4 of the Artemis II mission. To her right is CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen and NASA astronaut Victor Glover. NASA NASA’s Artemis II crew in Orion completed a manual piloting demonstration and reviewed their lunar flyby [...]
art002e004429 (April 3, 2026) - The Artemis II crew is en route to the Moon on the second flight day of the mission. This photo shows the Orion spacecraft with the Moon in the distance, as captured by a camera on the tip of one of its solar array wings. [...]
