Spaceflight Now

NASA's Artemis II crew of four launched April 1 aboard the SLS rocket from Kennedy Space Center for a 10-day free-return trajectory around the Moon — the first crewed deep space flight since Apollo 17 in December 1972.

Booster B1067, in service since June 2021, flew its 34th mission on Starlink 10-44 from Cape Canaveral on March 30, deploying 29 satellites and recovering on droneship Just Read the Instructions — setting a new orbital rocket reuse record.

Live coverage of March 20 Falcon 9/Starlink from SLC-4E, 21:51 UTC liftoff.

The 4-mile journey from VAB to LC-39B began late March 19 after minor wind delays. This is the final major pre-launch ground operation before the April crewed lunar flyby window opens.

Booster B1077-27 completed its 27th flight and landed on the droneship. Starlink Group 10-33 added another 29 V2 Mini satellites to the megaconstellation.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman announced a fundamental restructuring of the Artemis program, turning Artemis III into a 2027 Earth-orbit rendezvous test with commercial lunar landers instead of the previously planned Moon landing. The first crewed lunar landing now falls to Artemis IV in early 2028, with Artemis V potentially adding a second landing that same year. NASA cited the need to accelerate SLS launch cadence and reduce per-mission risk.

A helium flow anomaly in the SLS upper stage on February 21 prompted NASA to roll the Artemis II stack back to the Vehicle Assembly Building. The crew was released from quarantine in Houston. Engineers need to determine the cause and make repairs before re-targeting a launch window, now no earlier than April.

Spaceflight Now coverage of IM-2 mission end: Athena landed on its side ~820 ft from its intended site inside a shadowed crater at Mons Mouton. The orientation prevented sufficient solar power generation in the crater's cold shadows. Intuitive Machines' stock fell 20% on the news. MAPP rover and Grace hopper could not be deployed.