Artemis II launch opportunities announced
On November 16, 2022, the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the Orion spacecraft lifted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center as part of the Artemis I mission. (Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls)
2026-01-09
Today, NASA released the potential launch dates and times for the Artemis II mission. At the moment, the first opportunity opens up on February 6, 2026, at 9:41 pm (ET) for a window of two hours.
Launch windows are specific time periods during which a launch must occur to achieve the desired orbit or reach a specific destination.
These windows are determined by the positions of Earth and the target of the spacecraft relative to each other (the Moon, in the case of Artemis II).
Launch windows account for the complex orbital mechanics involved in launching on a precise trajectory toward the Moon while Earth is rotating on its axis and the Moon is orbiting Earth each month in its lunar cycle.
Launch windows can be as short as a few minutes, so the launch must be timed precisely. For Artemis II, all launch windows, except one on March 11, last two hours. The first launch attempts are normally done at the beginning of a window, but technical issues and weather can cause launches to be delayed to later within the launch window or to another launch window altogether. These delays are common.
Because Artemis II is the first crewed flight test of the Artemis campaign, running into a few issues that could cause delays is probable. The uncrewed Artemis I mission, for example, was delayed three times – twice for technical issues (a faulty engine temperature reading and later a hydrogen leak during fuelling) and another time due to bad weather – before launching in November 2022.
All updates of the date and time of the launch will be shared on the Canadian Space Agency's social media accounts and Website.
Artemis II will launch from Florida (Eastern time) and splash down off the coast of San Diego (Pacific time), but the crew and the ground teams will work in Mission Elapsed Time (MET). This is meant to avoid the constant rescheduling of tasks in case the launch slips.
MET is the amount of time recorded starting at the launch of a spacecraft (zero) and counts forward in normal days, hours, minutes, and seconds.
MET has been used for many missions, including the past missions of the Space Shuttle era. The International Space Station (ISS), however, does not use MET since it is a permanent and international mission. It uses UTC, which is about halfway between the United States and Russia, the main partners of the ISS.
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