alt.hn

3/13/2026 at 3:29:16 PM

NASA targets Artemis II crewed moon mission for April 1 launch

 https://www.npr.org/2026/03/12/nx-s1-5746128/nasa-artemis-ii-april-launch

by Brajeshwar

3/14/2026 at 3:39:44 PM

Why?

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I know there are readily-observible NASA debris scattered across the moon. Heck, it's even likely that we've already sent a few Americans up there before (perhaps not as early as '69, but eventually... yeah.sure.fine.).

But why go, even if "again?" Why even have gone in the first place (outside of USSA Space Race posturing)?

What is the point? Even if we discovered the goldliest of oils, deep within moonmantle, it would be absolutely cost-prohibitive to transport commercially between our masses. Perhaps the only use I can think is nuclear waste/bombs (for disposal/testing).

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equally stupid == Mars gaiabomb

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So again I'll ask: WHY?

by ProllyInfamous

3/13/2026 at 6:38:10 PM

Imagine riding in a vehicle that has been tested zero times. I would be terrified. Best of luck to the team.

by proee

3/15/2026 at 3:18:24 AM

I watched a news piece about this and alot of people are calling for more testing before sending a crew up. Every mission has risks but there seems to be real concern about the vehicle's re-entry into Earth's atmosphere. Blessings and good luck to the whole team.

by raiph_ai

3/13/2026 at 6:10:16 PM

Lunar surface?

by brcmthrowaway

3/13/2026 at 6:12:25 PM

Fly-by

by bhhaskin

3/15/2026 at 5:48:08 AM

It's not really a Moon mission if it doesn't land on the Moon, is it?

But imagine mankind would finally put man on the Moon...

I was just thinking yesterday - wouldn't be nice if first man in the space was Russian, first man on the Moon (supposedly) American and first man on different planet/Mars was Chinese. They sure can pull it off.

by Markoff

3/16/2026 at 6:26:17 AM

>It's not really a Moon mission if it doesn't land on the Moon, is it?

What was Apollo 10 in your view?

by protocolture

3/13/2026 at 4:11:34 PM

April 1 is an in interesting choice for a big event that will be news if it goes well and bigger news if it goes badly

by abeppu

3/13/2026 at 4:15:49 PM

They don't really have a choice. The launch window is small and they either make it or they don't.

by jedberg

3/13/2026 at 4:59:15 PM

There is a window on the 2nd. But you don't aim for the second half of the launch period and hope you make it, you aim for the start to allow time to resolve issues without waiting for the next window (which is the end of the month).

by philipwhiuk

3/13/2026 at 5:15:23 PM

What factors are there for the lunar launch window?

It can't be weather, here, right? That's too far ahead.

Is it perigee?

If this window is missed, when is the next one?

by echelon

3/13/2026 at 5:17:57 PM

The position of the moon relative to the earth and the sun. The windows are about a month apart.

by jedberg

3/13/2026 at 4:59:27 PM

Well at least there’s a 50% probability of success

by ohyoutravel

3/13/2026 at 5:14:13 PM

"April fools, your space shuttle just disintegrated!"

by hypeatei

3/13/2026 at 4:29:43 PM

Can't they just schedule it for March 32nd?

by mikkupikku

3/13/2026 at 4:47:27 PM

They are snip hunting that day.

by AverageSavage

3/13/2026 at 9:31:54 PM

[dead]

by useftmly

3/13/2026 at 4:57:06 PM

Surely they are joking?

by la3lma

3/13/2026 at 5:02:03 PM

The whole program is a joke.

by pfdietz

3/13/2026 at 4:46:51 PM

Operation: Sike! is a go! ;)

by AverageSavage

3/13/2026 at 4:13:56 PM

“As early as April 1” is a weird way to describe something that is two months behind schedule

by edgyquant

3/13/2026 at 4:28:05 PM

That's probably a "layman's terms" translation of a more technical term NET April 1, which would be "Not Earlier Than" and is widely used in the industry.

by NitpickLawyer

3/13/2026 at 4:34:29 PM

Being a few months behind schedule is forgivable for human space flight.

If a SpaceX Falcon blows up on the pad, that's one thing. It's expensive but they accept that risk to move faster. At least they gain knowledge of what failed, to do better next time.

You can't apply that mentality once a human is piloting it however. That's how you get Columbia, Challenger, or Apollo 1.

by StableAlkyne

3/16/2026 at 6:27:29 AM

Theres a lot of ways to describe the artemis program, forgivable isnt one of them.

by protocolture

3/13/2026 at 4:57:51 PM

> If a SpaceX Falcon blows up on the pad, that's one thing. It's expensive but they accept that risk to move faster. At least they gain knowledge of what failed, to do better next time.

Assuming it's not carrying a SpaceX Crew Dragon with crew onboard ;)

Also, it's a bit of a dated metaphor. Falcon 9 is by most accounts, now the most reliable rocket in history and is pretty design-locked. The modern metaphor is SpaceX Starship :)

by philipwhiuk

3/13/2026 at 4:52:36 PM

As it's currently March, April seems very close to me. I didn't know there was a moon flight planned so this is a great headline to me.

by bcraven

3/13/2026 at 5:02:09 PM

I didn't even know we were within years of putting people around the moon, so I was surprised!

by bombcar

3/13/2026 at 5:53:01 PM

Scott Manley does a roundup video every two or so weeks called 'deep space updates' that I suggest watching.

The start is all rocket launches, which gives a good idea of how much is happening.

by throwawaymobule

3/13/2026 at 4:59:21 PM

Seeing how the last test at the beginning of Feb found hydrogen leaks, it does sound very early to me

by dylan604

3/13/2026 at 5:28:18 PM

Why? They fixed it.

by tekla

3/13/2026 at 5:52:12 PM

In a month is why. It seems if it was fixed that fast it was easy to find. If it was so easy to find, why was it not found. These are the types of questions that seem to make NASA push things further than just a month. So again, it seems fast to me

by dylan604

3/13/2026 at 6:03:24 PM

It feels fast to you because you don't know what happened, and you are asking questions that have been answered by NASA already in public.

It was easy to find because they knew what valve was leaking.

It was not found beforehand because they don't have the ability to do the tanking test without rolling it to the launch pad and its very hard to know how a system responds to liquid hydrogen.

by tekla

3/13/2026 at 4:28:32 PM

Messaging is everything!

by Insanity

3/13/2026 at 4:40:55 PM

Six day launch window April 1-6.

by u1hcw9nx