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NASA said Thursday that the long-delayed launch of Artemis II, the first crewed flyby mission to the Moon in more than 50 years, could take place as early as April 1.
The update came after technical difficulties pushed back a launch originally planned for February.
“We are on track for a launch as early as April 1, and we are working toward that date,” senior NASA official Lori Glaze told reporters during a press conference.
Glaze described the mission as a test flight, cautioning that it still carries risks.
“It’s a test flight, and it is not without risk, but our team and our hardware are ready,” she said, adding that some work still remains before liftoff.
“Just keep in mind we still have work to do.”
The US space agency announced in February that it had revised its Artemis programme, including plans for additional testing ahead of a future lunar landing mission.
The first launch window would be Wednesday, April 1, at 6:24 pm (22:24 GMT), with several others available in the following days.
“We would anticipate on the order of about four opportunities within that six-day period,” Glaze said.
Artemis II will mark the first crewed mission to fly around the Moon since the end of the Apollo programme in the 1970s.
The spacecraft will carry four astronauts: Americans Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, along with Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
After launch, Artemis II will orbit Earth before heading toward the Moon for a flyby mission without landing. The spacecraft will then return to Earth and splash down in the ocean.
NASA said the distance of the crew’s lunar flyby will depend on the exact launch date, ranging between about 4,000 and 6,000 miles (6,437 to 9,656 kilometres) above the Moon’s surface.
“Exactly how close the Artemis II crew will fly to the Moon will depend on when they launch,” ranging from 4,000 to 6,000 miles (6,437 to 9,656 km) above the lunar surface, because the Moon will “be in a different spot for each of the possible launch dates.”
Although this is farther than the 80-mile altitude achieved by the uncrewed Artemis I mission, NASA said the astronauts will still travel “tens of thousands of miles closer than any human has been in more than 50 years.”
“At this distance the Moon will appear to the crew to be about the size of a basketball held at arm’s length.”
Artemis II is expected to be followed by Artemis III, which aims to rendezvous with a lunar lander in low-Earth orbit, paving the way for a human landing on the Moon.
The goal of the next phase, Artemis 4, is to land on the moon in early 2028. This comes after President Donald Trump declared during his first term that he wanted Americans to visit the moon once more.
