Artemis II captures stunning views of Earth
NASA’s Artemis II astronauts admired a view of Earth’s perfect crescent moon hours after the spacecraft lifted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Want the latest information on the Artemis II moon mission?
NASA’s flight tracker lets you follow the four astronauts of the Artemis II mission as they make their way to the moon.
After a successful launch from Florida on April 1, the Artemis II mission was more than 70,000 miles from Earth as of 6 a.m. Friday, April 3.
NASA has a website and app to help keep track of everyone during the 10-day mission that sends astronauts to the far side of the moon and back.
Artemis II Tracker. Track moon missions in real time
NASA’s online tracker (available on both desktop and mobile apps) lets you follow the Artemis II astronauts as they adventure to and around the moon aboard the Orion crew capsule.
Officially called the Artemis Real-time Orbit Website (AROW), the tracker allows users to see where the Orion spacecraft is and how fast it’s traveling, as well as its distance from both Earth and the moon in miles, NASA said.
The desktop website version’s interface includes major mission milestones and features for the Moon, including information about Apollo-era landing sites. The mobile version of NASA’s app for smartphones is similar, but adds an augmented reality feature that allows users to move their phone to see where Orion is currently positioned relative to Earth.
Download the app to your smartphone from here.
➤ App store
➤Google Play
Data is collected in real time by Orion’s sensors and transmitted to the Mission Control Center at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. That information will be constantly updated throughout the 10-day mission.
Artemis II Mission: Where is the Orion Capsule now?
Shortly before 6:30 a.m. on April 3, the astronauts were more than 72,000 miles from Earth.
One day and 11 hours into their 10-day mission, the astronauts are traveling at 4,880 miles per hour and have just over 180,000 miles left to reach the moon.
NASA Artemis II launch brings astronauts on historic lunar mission
Artemis II has taken off! A giant NASA SLS rocket lifted off from Kennedy Space Center near Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Wednesday, April 1, 2026.
What will the Artemis II crew do today, April 3rd?
According to NASA, on Friday, April 3, astronauts will:
- Practice the steps you will take as you approach the moon on day six of your mission. This includes thoroughly carrying out planned observations of the lunar surface.
- Astronauts also need to exercise using a flywheel exercise device.
- There will also be safety demonstrations such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation and evaluation of medical kits.
- Mission Specialist Christina Koch will use the second half of the third day to test Orion’s emergency communications system using its deep space network, NASA said.
Introducing the Artemis II crew
The Artemis II crew of four arrived in Florida on March 27 after entering standard preflight quarantine to avoid illness. Here’s what the team looks like:
- NASA astronaut Reed WisemanThe mission commander, a Baltimore native, last flew to the International Space Station in 2014 on a Russian Soyuz rocket.
- NASA astronaut Victor Glovera pilot from Pomona, California, who flew into space in 2020 on a SpaceX mission to the space station.
- NASA astronaut Christina Kocha mission specialist from Grand Rapids, Michigan, holds several space agency records and flew on the Soyuz ISS mission in 2019.
- Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy HansenAnother mission specialist flying into space for the first time.
