Nasa is holding a major press conference on March 13 to update the world on the status of Artemis II, the space agency’s first crewed mission to travel to the Moon in more than half a century.
The briefing will happen at Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, and will follow a Flight Readiness Review, which is essentially a final health check to decide whether the mission is ready to proceed or not.
The anticipated press conference will begin at 12:30 am Indian Standard Time (IST).
Artemis II will carry Nasa astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, on a 10-day journey around the Moon and back. Glover will become the first person of colour, Koch the first woman, and Hansen the first non-American to reach deep space and the Moon’s vicinity.
The stakes are enormous.
WHY WAS ARTEMIS-II DELAYED?
The road to launch has been anything but smooth.
After a successful wet dress rehearsal last month, where the rocket was fuelled and a launch countdown was simulated, an issue was found with the flow of helium in the rocket’s upper stage.
Nasa brought the rocket back inside the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) to fix the problem, pushing the launch window to no earlier than April 2026.
That wasn’t the programme’s first delay.
Artemis II was originally meant to launch in late 2024, then September 2025, before being pushed to early 2026 due to issues with the Orion capsule’s heat shield and life-support system.
The much-anticipated Artemis programme has faced repeated technical setbacks even as Nasa races to beat China back to the Moon.
WHAT’S THE BEST SCENARIO FOR ARTEMIS-II?
The mission will take the crew farther from Earth than any previous crewed mission, before re-entering Earth’s atmosphere at a record speed of approximately 40,000 kmph.
It won’t land on the Moon, which is something that’s planned for a later mission. Artemis-II, however, is critical to proving that the Orion spacecraft and its crew systems are safe for deep space travel.
Looking further ahead, Nasa has also announced it is increasing the scope of Artemis missions, with plans for at least one lunar surface landing every year after Artemis-IV in 2028.
The long-term goal, as Nasa has repeatedly emphasised, is to use the Moon as a stepping stone for the first crewed mission to Mars.
The March 13 briefing will be streamed live on Nasa’s YouTube channel while all eyes and ears will be looking out for any signal confirming April 2026 as the time when humanity takes its next giant leap.
