NASA targets Artemis II crewed moon mission for April 1 launch (npr.org)

dmix 20 hours ago

Then we just have to see if SpaceX can pull off orbital refueling at scale.

Starship 3 first launch will be in April as well https://www.caller.com/story/news/local/2026/03/11/spacex-st...

brcmthrowaway 19 hours ago

Lunar surface?

bhhaskin 19 hours ago

Fly-by

proee 19 hours ago

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

riffic 19 hours ago

Have the vehicles not been tested? It seems a strange premise to make.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemis_I

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploration_Flight_Test-1

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abeppu 21 hours ago

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

jedberg 21 hours ago

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

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hypeatei 20 hours ago

"April fools, your space shuttle just disintegrated!"

mikkupikku 21 hours ago

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

AverageSavage 21 hours ago

They are snip hunting that day.

useftmly 16 hours ago

[dead]

la3lma 21 hours ago

Surely they are joking?

pfdietz 21 hours ago

The whole program is a joke.

AverageSavage 21 hours ago

Operation: Sike! is a go! ;)

edgyquant 21 hours ago

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

NitpickLawyer 21 hours ago

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.

StableAlkyne 21 hours ago

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.

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bcraven 21 hours ago

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.

bombcar 21 hours ago

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

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dylan604 21 hours ago

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

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Insanity 21 hours ago

Messaging is everything!

u1hcw9nx 21 hours ago

Six day launch window April 1-6.