Overview
- The four astronauts arrived at Kennedy Space Center on Friday after preflight quarantine, moving into final closeouts for the first crewed lunar‑vicinity mission in more than 50 years.
- NASA is aiming to lift off Wednesday at 6:24 p.m. EDT with a two‑hour window and backup opportunities through April 6, with countdown clocks expected to start Monday afternoon.
- Engineers fixed a hydrogen leak found during fueling tests and a helium pressurization quick‑disconnect seal issue that forced a rollback to the Vehicle Assembly Building, and NASA chose not to run another full wet dress rehearsal.
- The roughly 10‑day flight will loop around the Moon on a free‑return path, beginning with a full day in Earth orbit to check Orion’s life‑support systems before the crew heads outward without entering lunar orbit.
- After heat‑shield charing and material cracking seen on the uncrewed Artemis I re‑entry, managers changed Orion’s return trajectory to cut exposure, a step that informs later Artemis flights aiming for landings around 2028.