NASA’s historic Artemis II crew prepares to lift off

Tuesday, March 31, 2026

The countdown clock is officially rolling at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where four astronauts are preparing to take off on the mission of a lifetime " circumnavigating the moon and returning humans to deep space for the first time in five decades. After nearly two months of tests and troubleshooting, NASA appears to be on the cusp of firing its 322-foot-tall (98-meter) Space Launch System rocket to orbit. The current target for takeoff is a two-hour launch window that opens at 6:24 p.m. ET on Wednesday.

Posted by REDIAL at 08:34 PM | 4 COMMENTS | permalink | Comment on This Entry |

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Rockets launch fairly frequently from the United States' Space Coast, as the area surrounding NASA's KSC facilities is called, but this mission is an obvious standout. NASA's Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch along with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen will climb aboard the Orion spacecraft " which sits atop the Space Launch System rocket " and blast toward space, going from zero to 500 miles per hour (about 805 kilometers per hour) in just two seconds.

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imo, this is a key event for NASA.

After leading the Country into space decades ago (and, yes, I remember when, e.g., the NBC network preempted all programming to broadcast for hours minute-by-minute details of the first lunar landing), NASA now has to show that it remains relevant in the world of capitalistic commercialism of space.

#1 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-03-31 09:49 PM | Reply

"going from zero to 500 miles per hour (about 805 kilometers per hour) in just two seconds"

That will only happen in an emergency situation, where something goes wrong with the launch and the capsule needs to be separated quickly from the rocket. An acceleration that fast will likely cause the astronauts to black out and possibly injure them. In a normal launch it will be much slower.

Very poor journalism.

#2 | Posted by sentinel at 2026-03-31 10:01 PM | Reply

this is a key event for NASA.

It is. Still a long way to go land on the moon though. And a fixed deadline to get it done.

#3 | Posted by REDIAL at 2026-03-31 10:21 PM | Reply

@#2 ... That will only happen in an emergency situation ...

Agreed.

Other Facilities Testing (2024)
Launch Abort Motor Testing
www.nasa.gov

... The 17-foot-long, three-foot-diameter abort motor has a manifold with four exhaust nozzles and provides thrust to quickly pull the crew module to safety if problems develop during launch.

The high-impulse motor is designed to burn most of the propellant within the first three seconds and burns three times faster than a typical motor of this size to immediately deliver the thrust needed to pull the crew module to safety.

If needed during a launch mishap, the crew module would accelerate from zero to 400-500 mph in two seconds. The motor was built by Northrop Grumman and tested at its facilities in Promontory, Utah. ...

#4 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-03-31 10:21 PM | Reply