KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – The crew of Artemis II are now on their way to the Moon! – commencing an exciting history making voyage that makes them the first humans to leave our home planet Earth since NASA’s Apollo 17 moon landing mission in Dec. 1972
Thus begins an approximately 10-day slingshot mission on a trajectory around the Moon and back for the Artemis II crew comprising NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
With all system looking great for their Orion spacecraft named integrity – and having been given the ‘GO’ for TLI or Trans Lunar Injection burn by Mission Control in Houston, they then successfully completed the burn of the Orion service module main engine today exactly as planned on April 2 at 7:49 p.m. EDT, at about 25 hours elapsed mission time.
The crew of four astronauts have departed high Earth orbit and begun their journey to the Moon and are now on course for their historic lunar flyby on April 6 – taking them farther into space than any humans before.
“After the mission management team polled “Go” Thursday, NASA’s Orion spacecraft fired its main engine for five minutes and 50 seconds beginning at 7:49 p.m. EDT, to successfully complete the translunar injection (TLI) burn, sending the crew in Orion out of Earth orbit and on a trajectory toward the Moon, NASA confirmed in an update.
“Orion’s main engine provides up to 6,700 pounds of thrust, enough to accelerate a car from 0 to 60 mph in about 2.7 seconds. At the time of the burn, Orion’s mass was 58,000 pounds and burned approximately 1,000 pounds of fuel during the firing.”
The astronaut quartet began their exciting voyage with a very beautiful, extremely loud and bright late afternoon blastoff on April 1 on NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion Moon rocket propelled the Artemis II crew on NASA’s history making journey hurling the first humans to the Moon and back in more than 50 years – since NASA’s Apollo era.
Enjoy another gallery of photos taken by Ken Kremer and Jean Wright for Space UpClose
The successful Artemis II launch paves the way for NASA to proceed with the agency’s ambitious future goals to land humans on the Moon as soon as 2028 and eventually establish a moon base at the Lunar South Pole region
Follow along for our updates as the mission progresses!
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Ken Kremer Recent TV Interviews
Apr 1 Fox 35 Orlando
Watch my complete live prelaunch interview here:
https://www.fox35orlando.com/video/fmc-ssc0eojmgl3bpz7f
https://www.yahoo.com/news/videos/countdown-artemis-ii-launch-rocket-163524130.html
Caption: Countdown to Artemis II launch | ‘Rocket is in good shape’
Dr. Ken Kremer from Space UpClose spoke with FOX 35’s Garrett Wymer about the previous hydrogen leaks regarding Artemis II [on April 1, 2026 just hours before the planned launch]. Kremer reported that NASA is testing the hardware and software ahead of the launch set for 6:30 p.m., April 1. “That’s all fixed now. Everything is looking really great,” Kremer said. Credit: Fox 35 Orlando/Ken Kremer/SpaceUpClose.com
Apr 1 MS NOW: Prelaunch day of launch interview
Apr 1 Sky News England: Prelaunch live day of launch interview
Mar 25/26 WESH 2 NBC News Orlando: Watch my comments about NASAs new Moonbase plans at the lunar South Pole. Whats up with new NASA Artemis 2,3,4 missions timeline. Whats the future of commercial LEO space stations after ISS ends. Big Problem! – lack of money !
story/video: https://www.wesh.com/article/nasa-shifts-focus-to-moon-missions-iss-retirement-looms/70848583
Fox 35 Orlando: How, why and whats up with new NASA Artemis 2,3,4 mission planning timelines and goals in the meantime.
Watch my complete live interview
https://www.fox35orlando.com/video/fmc-3f8esf3r7ac76uzx
Caption: NASA has unveiled a timeline to get astronauts up on the moon once again. This time: $20 billion are being invested into a moon base project that would see astronauts up for a specific period of time, happening in the near future. FOX35 News+ Anchor Garrett Wymer spoke with Ken Kremer, Managing Editor for Space Upclose about this and the future of space travel.
Fox 35 Complete live interview video:
https://www.fox35orlando.com/video/fmc-vihrm1hbp25zq1hj
https://www.yahoo.com/news/videos/could-nasas-artemis-2-rollout-160318868.html
Wesh 2 NBC Orlando Mar 25:
https://www.wesh.com/article/nasa-shifts-focus-to-moon-missions-iss-retirement-looms/70848583
More photos from Ken Kremer and Jean Wright
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