It’s humanity’s first flight to the moon since 1972 — and stargazers all around the globe, including in New Zealand, are eagerly awaiting Artemis II's historic lunar flyby.
The three Americans and one Canadian are set to reach their destination on Tuesday morning, New Zealand time, photographing the mysterious lunar far side.
Astronauts will hurtle several thousand miles beyond the moon, hang a U-turn and then come straight back. No circling around the moon, no stopping for a moonwalk.
NASA provides timings in US Eastern time.
Follow along with the key moments on 1News or NASA Plus online.
Here are the timings from New Zealand
Monday
At around 4.41pm on Monday (NZ time), the Orion spacecraft will enter the lunar sphere of influence, where the tug of the Moon's gravity becomes stronger than Earth's.
The crew's sleep then begins at around 6.20pm.
NASA's coverage of the lunar flyby begins nearly 11 hours later, the next day.
The three Americans and one Canadian will swing around the moon in their Orion capsule, hang a U-turn and then head straight back home without stopping. (Source: Supplied)
Tuesday
From 5am Tuesday (NZ time), NASA's live coverage of the lunar flyby will begin.
Then, at around 6am, the crew was expected to surpass Apollo 13's distance record for the furthest that humans have travelled from Earth.
At 6.15am, the cabin will be configured for the flyby. By 6.45am, the lunar observation period begins — the crew's window to photograph and study the Moon up close.
At 10.47am, Orion was expected to slip behind the Moon, cutting off all communications with Earth for roughly 40 minutes. It's a moment that will test nerves.
From astronomers to school students, the Artemis generation will remember this day. (Source: 1News)
At 11.02am, Orion makes its closest approach to the Moon.
Just three minutes later, at 11.05am, the crew reaches their maximum distance from Earth — further than any human has ever been.
By 12.35pm, the Moon will begin eclipsing the Sun from the crew's perspective, plunging Orion into an eerie shadow. The lunar observation period wraps up at 1.20pm, with the solar eclipse period concluding shortly after at 1.32pm.
At 2.50pm, the crew will appear live on a downlink event — likely their first chance to share in detail what they've just witnessed.
The crew's sleep begins at 6.05pm on Tuesday evening, New Zealand time.
Four astronauts embarked on a high-stakes flight around the Moon, humanity’s first lunar voyage in more than half a century. (Source: Other)
Wednesday
By Wednesday morning (NZ time), the mission shifts into its homeward leg.
The crew wakes at 3.35am, and by 5.28am, Orion departs the lunar sphere of influence — leaving the Moon behind for good.
Crew has an amazing sight in store
During the lunar flyby, the moon will appear to be the size of a basketball held at arm’s length. The astronauts will take turns peering through Orion’s windows with cameras.
If the lighting is right, they should see features never before viewed through human eyes. They’ll also catch snippets of a total solar eclipse, donning eclipse glasses as the moon briefly blocks the sun from their perspective, and the corona is revealed.
The astronauts have been poring over maps and satellite images of the lunar far side and anticipate a photo frenzy. Their lunar mentor is NASA geologist Kelsey Young, who will monitor the flyby from Mission Control in Houston.
The most powerful rocket NASA has ever built blasted off in dramatic fashion from Cape Canaveral. (Source: 1News)
“The moon is like such a unifying thing,” she said. “What we're doing with this mission is going to bring that a little closer to everybody around the world.”
Besides pro cameras, they’ll carry the latest smartphones. NASA’s new administrator Jared Isaacman added smartphones to the mission for “inspiring” picture-taking.
While NASA and private companies have focused over the years on reaching the moon's near side — the side that constantly faces Earth — only China has planted landers on the far side.
That makes the astronauts' observations of the lunar far side all the more valuable for NASA.
All of NASA’s moon plans — a surge in launches over the next several years leading to a sustainable moon base for astronauts assisted by robotic rovers and drones — hinge on Artemis II going well.
It’s been more than three years since Artemis I, the only other time NASA’s SLS rocket and Orion capsule have soared. With no one aboard, the Artemis I capsule lacked life-support equipment and other crew essentials like a water dispenser and toilet.
These systems are now making their space debut on Artemis II, ratcheting up the risk.
That’s why NASA is waiting a full day before committing Wiseman and his crew to a four-day trip to the moon and a four-day journey back.
The capsule's toilet is already acting up. Koch informed Mission Control that it shut down seconds after she activated it.
Mission Control advised her to use a handheld bag-and-funnel system for now — CCU, short for Collapsible Contingency Urinal — while engineers pondered how to deal with the so-called lunar loo.
“There’s always been a lot riding on this mission,” NASA’s Lori Glaze said ahead of launch.
But the teams are even more “energised” now that the space agency is finally accelerating the lunar launch pace and laser-focusing on surface operations — seismic changes recently announced by Isaacman.
How Artemis II will fly around the moon
After liftoff, the astronauts will spend the first 25 hours circling Earth in a high, lopsided orbit. They’ll use the separated upper stage as a target, steering their Orion capsule around it as docking practice for future moonshots.
Instead of fancy range finders, they'll rely on their eyes to judge the gap, venturing no closer than 10 metres to the stage.
“Sometimes simple stuff is the best,” Wiseman said.
If all goes as planned, Orion's main engine will hurl the crew to the moon some 393,000 kilometres away. This free-return trajectory made famous in Apollo 13 relies on the moon and Earth’s gravity, minimising the need for fuel.
On flight day six, Orion will reach its farthest point from Earth as it sails 8000 kilometres beyond the moon. That will surpass Apollo 13’s distance record, making Artemis astronauts the most remote travellers.
After emerging from behind the moon, the crew will head straight home with a splashdown on flight day 10 — nine days, one hour and 46 minutes after liftoff.
Artemis astronauts will splash back down to Earth
Like Apollo, the Artemis mission ends with a splashdown homecoming into the Pacific.
All eyes will be on Orion’s heat shield as the capsule plunges through the atmosphere.
It’s the part of the spacecraft that took the biggest beating during 2022’s test flight, with charred chunks gouged out. The heat shield is being retooled for future capsules but remains the original design for Artemis II.
NASA is limiting the heat exposure during reentry by shortening the capsule’s atmospheric descent. Navy recovery ships will be stationed off the coast of San Diego as Orion parachutes into the ocean.
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