Artemis II Is Nearly Halfway to the Moon — Here's Where the Crew is Now
The Artemis II crew is nearly halfway to the moon on Day 3 of the historic mission, NASA confirmed Friday. The four astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft — NASA's Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen — are on track for one of the most anticipated moments in modern space exploration.
The crew is on a 685,000-mile, 10-day journey around the moon, known as a lunar flyby, with splashdown expected on April 10 off the coast of San Diego.
Artemis II Navigation Systems Performing So Well NASA Scrapped a Planned Burn
Things are going so smoothly that NASA has already started cutting steps from the schedule — in a good way. Orion's navigation and propulsion systems are performing so well that the crew will not need to perform the planned trajectory correction burn scheduled for Friday evening.
"I think it's really good to see that we don't need these minor correction burns. It shows that our navigation performance and our ability to get ranging has been outstanding," said Howard Hu, Orion spacecraft program manager.
NASA leaders described the crew as being in "great spirits" and "really excited about the opportunity to be there and what's going on."
Artemis II Lunar Flyby: What the Crew Will Do When They Reach the Moon Monday
The biggest moment of the mission is now just days away. On Monday, during a six-hour lunar observation period, the crew will be at their closest approach to the lunar surface. On Saturday, the crew will take a selfie of the spacecraft (imagine Neil Armstrong's reaction to that) and test some thruster flight modes on Orion.
During the planned lunar flyby, the astronauts will take high-resolution photographs and provide their own observations of the lunar surface, including areas of the far side of the moon never seen directly by humans.
The blackout period, when the crew is behind the moon and out of contact with Mission Control, is expected to last about 40 minutes. When asked if there is reason to worry during that window, Artemis flight director Judd Frieling said: "Physics takes over and physics will absolutely get us back to the front side of the moon."
We’re halfway there.
— NASA Artemis (@NASAArtemis) April 4, 2026
At the time of posting this, the Artemis II mission is about halfway to the Moon. When the astronauts arrive, they will conduct a lunar flyby and collect scientific observations of the Moon’s surface. pic.twitter.com/Re8dryeX6k
Artemis II Toilet: Crew Conducts Noise Test on Day 3 of Moon Mission
Not every item on the Day 3 checklist was quite so dramatic. The astronauts spent time on Friday conducting a "noise characterization" assessment of the toilet's noise levels. (Who knew there would be much ado about a space toilet?) The crew also exercised and performed a CPR demonstration.
How to Track Artemis II in Real Time Using NASA's Live Tracker
If you want to follow the crew's progress yourself, NASA's AROW tracker — available through the NASA app or at NASA's official website — pulls data directly from mission sensors and translates it into visuals anyone can follow. It launched the moment Orion lifted off and will run until splashdown.
The Orion spacecraft is currently approaching equidistance between the Earth and Moon. The moon is getting closer by the hour.