How to Watch Today’s Artemis II Launch

After multiple delays, NASA's Artemis II mission looks like it's finally ready to launch. The agency rolled its SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft out to the launch pad on March 20 and has been busy with system health checks and other preparations since. Assuming NASA's hardware—and the weather—cooperates, we'll see liftoff this evening, April 1.

Artemis II is the second of NASA's four Artemis missions, the first of which was an uncrewed test flight that ensured the SLS and Orion capsule worked well together. Artemis II will have four astronauts (NASA's Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and the Canadian Space Agency's Jeremy Hansen) "slingshot" around the Moon, getting as close as 4,047 miles from the far-side lunar surface before heading back home. The mission will last 10 days; if it indeed launches on April 1 ...