In this image, also taken from the Orion capsule, we see the divide between night and day, known as the terminator, cutting across Earth. Whether awake or dreaming, we're all here on this planet together.

Artemis II update: our European Service Module's main engine performed the translunar injection so precisely that flight controllers in Houston decided to cancel the first of three outbound trajectory correction burns on the way to the Moon🥳

Working up an appetite!

As Victor Glover gets in his exercise for the day, Jeremy R. Hansen is preparing the crew's midday meal.

You've seen his visualizations. Now, meet the man who knows the far side of the Moon like the back of his hand.

Ernie Wright maps the Moon, which comes in handy when training NASA Artemis astronauts to see parts of the lunar surface humans have never laid eyes on before.

Artemis II Science Officer, reporting for duty. 🚀

There’s a new “SCIENCE” seat in the main NASA Artemis flight control room. Yesterday, Kelsey Young of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center became the first person to step into this role during an Artemis mission.

The Science Officer represents a whole community. Just one floor away, in a backroom at Mission Control, the Artemis II Lunar Science Team is hard at work. They have been preparing for this moment – and getting astronauts ready for Moon observing missions – for years.

They’ve led training expeditions to Earth's most Moon-like places, custom-built lunar geology classes, worked out the fine points of photographing the Moon from space, and spent countless hours in mission simulations.

Now, together with the crew and flight controllers, they’re not just helping Artemis II reach its full science potential—they’re laying a strong foundation for future missions.

Meet the Artemis II Science Officers: go.nasa.gov/4bRILw9

Fun fact: The main engine behind the boost to the moon flew before on six Space Shuttle Atlantis missions.

The European Service Module has 33 engines, but this is the only one capable of sending the Orion spacecraft towards the Moon, some 380 000 kilometres away.

In their first live downlink event, NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen spoke with ABC and Fox News to discuss their mission so far. The conversations took place on Thursday, April 2, with the Artemis II crew aboard NASA's Orion spacecraft making their way to the Moon.

Artemis II successfully deployed 4 CubeSats in high Earth orbit. 

These satellites, developed with our Artemis Accords partners DLR, CONAE, 우주항공청 KASA, and وكالة الفضاء السعودية, will demonstrate radiation research, space weather monitoring, and new technologies that will be critical to advancing future deep-space exploration.

Since everyone always asks... 🤔

The universal waste management system aboard the Orion spacecraft is a compact, 5-cubic-foot toilet designed for microgravity. Solid waste is stored in odor-controlled canisters, while pre-treated urine is vented overboard daily.

A view from cameras on board the Orion spacecraft as it climbs to orbit, powered by the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket following a 6:35 p.m. EDT liftoff on April 1, 2026. Included is the jettison of the solid rocket boosters that propelled Orion for the first two minutes of flight, and the jettison of the spacecraft adapter jettison panels, which protect the spacecraft's solar array wings during ascent.