Artemis II Crew Speaks From Quarantine Ahead of Moon Mission Launch

Four astronauts currently sequestered from the outside world could fly farther from Earth than any human since the Apollo 13 crew, whose 248,655-mile distance record has stood for 56 years. NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, spoke from prelaunch quarantine ahead of their scheduled Wednesday liftoff on Artemis II, the agency's first crewed mission under its Artemis lunar program.

The mission will launch from Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard NASA's Space Launch System rocket, carrying the crew on an approximately 10-day journey around the Moon aboard the Orion spacecraft. The flight marks the first time humans will travel aboard Orion, and a primary objective is testing the spacecraft's life support systems with a live crew, which NASA describes as laying the groundwork for future crewed Artemis missions.

For a launch on April 1, the crew is expected to surpass the Apollo 13 distance record during the lunar flyby on Monday, April 6. NASA+ coverage of the flyby is scheduled to begin at 12:45 p.m. that day, with a live downlink event at 10:39 p.m. that evening. Video during the lunar passage may be limited while Orion flies through an eclipse, and the crew is also expected to experience a temporary communications blackout as the spacecraft passes behind the Moon's far side.

On Tuesday, April 7, the crew will speak with astronauts aboard the International Space Station in an audio-only conversation at 2:29 p.m., followed by a mission status briefing at 4 p.m.

The crew has rehearsed elements of the launch sequence for years. In September 2023, Wiseman, Glover, Koch, and Hansen walked out of the astronaut crew quarters inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building and traveled to Launch Pad 39B as part of an integrated ground systems test, walking through the crew timeline for launch day more than two years ahead of the actual mission.

Briefings and 24/7 mission coverage will air on NASA's YouTube channel, with dedicated streams for each event going live closer to their scheduled start times. NASA will continuously update its Artemis II briefings and mission events page throughout prelaunch, launch, and mission activities.