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NASA targets Artemis II crewed moon mission for April 1 launch
- abeppu 8mo agoApril 1 is an in interesting choice for a big event that will be news if it goes well and bigger news if it goes badly
- jedberg 8mo agoThey don't really have a choice. The launch window is small and they either make it or they don't.
- philipwhiuk 8mo agoThere is a window on the 2nd. But you don't aim for the second half of the launch period and hope you make it, you aim for the start to allow time to resolve issues without waiting for the next window (which is the end of the month).
- ohyoutravel 8mo agoWell at least there’s a 50% probability of success
- echelon 8mo agoWhat factors are there for the lunar launch window? It can't be weather, here, right? That's too far ahead. Is it perigee? If this window is missed, when is the next one?
- jedberg 8mo agoThe position of the moon relative to the earth and the sun. The windows are about a month apart.
- hypeatei 8mo ago"April fools, your space shuttle just disintegrated!"
- edgyquant 8mo ago“As early as April 1” is a weird way to describe something that is two months behind schedule
- NitpickLawyer 8mo agoThat's probably a "layman's terms" translation of a more technical term NET April 1, which would be "Not Earlier Than" and is widely used in the industry.
- Insanity 8mo agoMessaging is everything!
- StableAlkyne 8mo agoBeing a few months behind schedule is forgivable for human space flight. If a SpaceX Falcon blows up on the pad, that's one thing. It's expensive but they accept that risk to move faster. At least they gain knowledge of what failed, to do better next time. You can't apply that mentality once a human is piloting it however. That's how you get Columbia, Challenger, or Apollo 1.
- philipwhiuk 8mo ago> If a SpaceX Falcon blows up on the pad, that's one thing. It's expensive but they accept that risk to move faster. At least they gain knowledge of what failed, to do better next time. Assuming it's not carrying a SpaceX Crew Dragon with crew onboard ;) Also, it's a bit of a dated metaphor. Falcon 9 is by most accounts, now the most reliable rocket in history and is pretty design-locked. The modern metaphor is SpaceX Starship :)
- protocolture 8mo agoTheres a lot of ways to describe the artemis program, forgivable isnt one of them.
- u1hcw9nx 8mo agoSix day launch window April 1-6.
- mikkupikku 8mo agoCan't they just schedule it for March 32nd?
- AverageSavage 8mo agoThey are snip hunting that day.
- AverageSavage 8mo agoOperation: Sike! is a go! ;)
- la3lma 8mo agoSurely they are joking?
- pfdietz 8mo agoThe whole program is a joke.
- dmix 8mo agoThen we just have to see if SpaceX can pull off orbital refueling at scale. Starship 3 first launch will be in April as well https://www.caller.com/story/news/local/2026/03/11/spacex-starship-rocket-launch-texas/89096488007/ https://www.caller.com/story/news/local/2026/03/11/spacex-st...
- brcmthrowaway 8mo agoLunar surface?
- bhhaskin 8mo agoFly-by
- proee 8mo agoImagine riding in a vehicle that has been tested zero times. I would be terrified. Best of luck to the team.
- riffic 8mo agoHave the vehicles not been tested? It seems a strange premise to make. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemis_I https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemis_I https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploration_Flight_Test-1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploration_Flight_Test-1
- ta9000 8mo agoIt’s kind of wild that I never heard about this. Space exploration really has dropped off the map news/media wise.
- raiph_ai 8mo agoI watched a news piece about this and alot of people are calling for more testing before sending a crew up. Every mission has risks but there seems to be real concern about the vehicle's re-entry into Earth's atmosphere. Blessings and good luck to the whole team.
- useftmly 8mo ago[dead]
- ProllyInfamous 8mo agoWhy? ---- I know there are readily-observible NASA debris scattered across the moon. Heck, it's even likely that we've already sent a few Americans up there before (perhaps not as early as '69, but eventually... yeah.sure.fine.). But why go, even if "again?" Why even have gone in the first place (outside of USSA Space Race posturing)? What is the point? Even if we discovered the goldliest of oils, deep within moonmantle, it would be absolutely cost-prohibitive to transport commercially between our masses. Perhaps the only use I can think is nuclear waste/bombs (for disposal/testing). ---- equally stupid == Mars gaiabomb ---- So again I'll ask: WHY?
- Markoff 8mo agoIt's not really a Moon mission if it doesn't land on the Moon, is it? But imagine mankind would finally put man on the Moon... I was just thinking yesterday - wouldn't be nice if first man in the space was Russian, first man on the Moon (supposedly) American and first man on different planet/Mars was Chinese. They sure can pull it off.
- protocolture 8mo ago>It's not really a Moon mission if it doesn't land on the Moon, is it? What was Apollo 10 in your view?