Tootfinder

And so #ArtemisII delivers ... the dark side of the Earth last night, illuminated by the full Moon, with a bright atmospheric arc indicating where the Sun is hiding and aurora in several places. While beyond Earth at 5 o'clock you see the zodiacal light and Venus and many stars. A bit noisy but something never imaged before AFAIK - the Apollo era photographic film wasn't up to this. From https://x.com/NASA/status/2040059770237849635 while https://x.com/NASA/status/2040059740848283920 shows a fraction of the Earth's dayside.

YES!!!
go go go!!!
#artemisII

In 10 minutes the #ArtemisII Fueling Test News Conference will stream at https://www.youtube.com/live/ycqk3uN_N6g - as announced in https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/missions/2026/02/03/nasa-conducts-artemis-ii-fuel-test-eyes-march-for-launch-opportunity/ and https://x.com/NASAAdmin/status/2018578937115271660 the first launch attempt has already been moved to March.

Ticktock #ArtemisII

Wife: "it's a shame that in the history books, the return to the moon is now connected with... THAT president."
Me: "I see it this way: These four humans are they luckiest ever, the get further away from him than anybody else."
#artemisii

Raumschiff Orion also heute Nacht am Start. Nice.
#ArtemisII

The best view from the #ArtemisII mission so far came at noon UTC today when a solar-wing-mounted camera broastcast this view of Earth some 70,000 km away next to the ESM engines for a while. The Orion and the ESM are on their way back to perigee now - and around 23:45 UTC the trans-lunar injection burn is expected.

NASA's most import launch in decades and they are using the most choppy video codec ever. #ArtemisII

Made it home in time!
Still go for launch!
Clock starting! -10m
#artemisII

The Wet Dress Rehearsal for #ArtemisII has begun in earnest with the tanking of the SLS Core stage now underway as planned: frequent updates on https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/missions/ and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zDlM8d4Q7g (the pictures here from https://images.nasa.gov/ show yesterday's sunrise and moonrise behind the stack on the pad).

The first orbital media event with the #ArtemisII crew is happening right now, live on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3kR2KK8TEs

By popular demand here is the full-moon-lit night image of Earth from #ArtemisII in a rotated (NW now up) and zoomed-in version, now directly from https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/hello-world/ - the technical data has https://nitter.net/Erdayastronaut/status/2040105622046118282 and there is also a version with much shorter exposure at https://nitter.net/NASA/status/2040114101670523381 and a half-Earth at https://nitter.net/NASA/status/2040114160529179103 while the view with the window frame is at https://images.nasa.gov/details/art002e000191

After a successful 5 minutes 55 seconds Translunar Injection Burn the daily #ArtemisII press conference should come at the bottom of the hour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3Pq35gm4qA

RE: #ArtemisII Mission Update briefing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5PLvqX2q8w - in Q&A we learned that contact has been made to only two of the four CubeSats deployed so far, the German one https://mastodon.social/@DLR@social.bund.de/116329959429900989 not among them. Anyway, here is a cool timelapse of the deployment as seen in the sky: https://bsky.app/profile/s2a-systems.bsky.social/post/3mimb3zb5gs2i

RE: #ArtemisII WDR: https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/missions/2026/02/03/artemis-ii-wet-dress-rehearsal-test-terminated-at-t-515/ - a lot of unfinished business ...

One more #ArtemisII piece in https://www.cbsnews.com/news/4-artemis-ii-astronauts-getting-ready-for-flight-to-far-side-of-the-moon-60-minutes-transcript/ (13-minutes video and transcript) - it also highlights the renewed 'race' between SpaceX and Blue Origin for building the Artemis III lander. And falsely claims that they are the first to actually show the Blue Moon MK1: see https://www.instagram.com/p/DRVZLMkkVgO/ from last November ...

And now an #ArtemisII post-launch press conference on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrhH05U_Zds

A permanent webcast of #ArtemisII has begun at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3kR2KK8TEs and will first cover tanking and run all the way to splashdown (separate webcasts will cover special mission phases like lift-off). Also live updates will be published on the page https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/missions/2026/04/01/live-artemis-ii-launch-day-updates/ just set up.

The best view from the botched #ArtemisII NASA launch webcast: the separation of the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (with the Orion, not visible) from the Core Stage, seen from the Launch Vehicle Stage Adapter - scroll down on https://skyweek.wordpress.com/2026/04/01/artemis-ii-vor-dem-start-maps-vor-dem-perihel/ for a sequence of nine screenshots from the whole ascent.

The first (NASA) photograpg of the #ArtemisII launch published: https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasahqphoto/55182696113/in/album-72177720331487648

Our 1m34s experience of the launch. And what a launch!
Finally my generation (b. 1977) and beyond gets to see a crew heading TOWARD THE MOON!
#artemisII #catsofmastodon #atlas #whiskers

Need to get 'into the mood' about #ArtemisII? The 27-minute feature https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMoXNq2n9_Y from NBC News could do the job.

Since this one will certainly be archived (not sure about the permanent webcast), #ArtemisII launch. The crew is already in the capsule - this had been their walk-out: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2086875691887758 and https://www.facebook.com/scott.schilke.1/posts/pfbid0261UbknbRbYWXenoR8DgC3GcDDH4RRL6FDgoW13vycnXUz4Tq5oz1yXLbzcYuPjMjl

A live view of the #ArtemisII stack on the pad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCrPD7tfcr0 - where the countdown for the Wet Dress Rehearsal has begun at 1:13 UTC; see https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/missions/2026/01/31/countdown-begins-for-artemis-ii-wet-dress-rehearsal/ for the timeline and https://skyweek.wordpress.com/2026/02/01/generalprobe-wet-dress-rehearsal-fur-artemis-ii/ for maaany Artemis-related links going back to 2023.

It is legitimately exciting that 4 humans might start on a journey around the Moon today!
Godspeed to all of them but especially The Big Unit* Canadian Jeremy Hansen!!
(*my unofficial nickname. the dude is huge, how does he even fit in the capsule!)
#NASA #ArtemisII #Space #Moon #Canada

At the top of the hour the #ArtemisII L-1 Countdown Status News Conference - the final one before the planned launch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PhQJCzhCOw (new on the panel for the first time is launch weather officer Mark Burger).

Was just watching the crew do their thing and two of them were using an iPhone to take pictures and video (note classic “elbows out” photo taking pose by Jeremy on the left) of the pilots doing their thing.
I wonder how many USB charging ports are in the Integrity capsule.
#integrity #artemisII #tech #iPhone #poll
0 ports - cables are hard wired or there are charging pads
1-3 ports
3-5 ports
5 ports

With the delay of the #ArtemisII WDR to Feb. 2 finally confirmed - #Crew12 pre-launch presser day: #NASA yet, but https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5-5By97H_8 promises to carry the first presser at 16:00 UTC - beware: shocking preview image - while https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLxcA8Crpkg will carry the second one with the crew at 18:00 UTC).

At the top of the hour an #ArtemisII L-2 Countdown Status News Conference at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VL3AyQ766vc - according to the timeline https://www.nasa.gov/general/nasa-releases-artemis-ii-moon-mission-launch-countdown/ the countdown should begin 15 minutes from now; check https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/artemis/ for updates.

And now on #ArtemisII Update to discuss "the next steps": https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-invites-media-to-discuss-next-steps-for-artemis-campaign/

At the bottom of the hour an #ArtemisII Q&A with the crew from Quarantine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ii_tmJff7LQ. Followed at 18:00 UTC by an Artemis II L-3 Countdown Status News Conference at t-3 days: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQH21XCsp5U

Too cold in Florida ... "Multiple sources" have told #ArtemisII "is slipping 48 hours because of expected freezing weather and high winds along Florida's Space Coast this weekend; there is no confirmation from NASA, but also no confirmation the practice countdown is actually underway as it would be if the test was on track".

And the #ArtemisII stack is back in the VAB, arriving around 1:00 UTC today: https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/missions/2026/02/25/nasa-artemis-ii-rocket-returns-for-repairs/ - while in the assembly building, technicians will troubleshoot the helium flow issue to the rocket’s upper stage, replace batteries on the rocket’s upper stage, core stage, and solid rocket boosters as well as service its flight termination system.

Near the end of a sad journey ... the #ArtemisII stack almost back at the VAB after crawling for 9 1/2 hours, from the live feed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCrPD7tfcr0 - see https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/missions/ for updates.

The #ArtemisII mission has quite an impact on ... the operation of the James Webb Space Telescope as #JWST operations plan currently assumes roughly a quarter of the usual #DeepSpaceNetwork (DSN) access will be available, which has a direct impact on the number of science visits that can be executed and the volume of data that can be downlinked."

Q&A with the #ArtemisII crew when they just arrived at the KSC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lg-sDsbJp7E. And how Europe will power the journey to the Moon and back: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kq6hz0GFEO4 - from ESA which also made https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMt0njvmu0Y

Cool picture of the #ArtemisII stack in front of the first quarter #Moon at the #KSC - supplied by ULA: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ulalaunch/55063964129/

Due to weather, NASA now is targeting early Wednesday, Feb. 25, to roll the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft for #ArtemisII off the launch pad and back to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida: https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/missions/2026/02/23/nasa-targets-artemis-ii-rollback-on-wednesday/ - cold temperatures and high winds are expected Tuesday, and rolling on Feb. 25, gives teams enough time to complete preparations at the launch pad that were limited today by high winds in the area.

"The USA needs to take over the Moon and stop all this phases nonsense. We’ll have a full Moon every night, unless werewolves become a big problem. We might even bring the Moon closer so getting there isn’t such a hassle": Donald Trump as cited in #ArtemisII

During NASA’s #ArtemisII mission to the Moon, four astronauts will live and work inside the Orion spacecraft after launching atop the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lxDQj7CFyI - the crew will test Orion’s systems throughout their 10-day mission to ensure the spacecraft can keep astronauts safe and healthy in deep space.

NASA is taking steps to potentially roll back the #ArtemisII rocket and Orion spacecraft to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida after overnight Feb. 21 observing interrupted flow of helium to the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket’s interim cryogenic propulsion stage: https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/missions/2026/02/21/nasa-troubleshooting-artemis-ii-rocket-upper-stage-issue-preparing-to-roll-back/ - the upper stage uses helium to maintain the proper environmental conditions for the stage’s engine and to pressurize liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellant tanks; the systems worked during NASA’s Artemis II wet dress rehearsals, but teams were not able to properly flow helium during normal operations and reconfigurations following the wet dress rehearsal that concluded Feb. 19.

"The #ArtemisII wet dress rehearsal ended today at 10:16 p.m., concluding as planned at T-29 seconds in the countdown."

45 minutes til the simulated #ArtemisII launch, and according to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KYhqePsm38 and https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/missions/2026/02/19/live-artemis-ii-wet-dress-rehearsal-coverage/ the 2ns wet dress rehearsal is going to plan. How the outcome will be reported: https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-to-provide-coverage-of-artemis-ii-wet-dress-rehearsal/

"After running through terminal count for the #ArtemisII wet dress rehearsal, the launch team paused the clock at T-33 seconds in the countdown," says https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/missions/2026/02/19/live-artemis-ii-wet-dress-rehearsal-coverage/: "Teams are now reconfiguring and replenishing the liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen systems, in order to recycle back to the T-10 minute mark and perform another run of terminal count. [...] The entire recycle process lasts approximately 60 to 90 minutes."

A the press conference #ArtemisII launch after the WDR went so well - see also https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/missions/2026/02/19/nasa-begins-artemis-ii-launch-pad-ops-after-successful-fuel-test/ issued just after it had ended - but this will not be confirmed before the Flight Readiness Review late next week.

The #ArtemisII stack arrived back at the pad today, with a launch on April 1st (Europe: April 2nd) still a possibility: https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/missions/2026/03/20/nasas-artemis-ii-rocket-arrives-at-launch-pad-39b/ and https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2026/03/Artemis_II_rolls_again and many more roll-out pictures in https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasahqphoto/albums/72177720332614865/

The #ArtemisII roll-out seen from orbit with 30 cm resolution by the Pleiades NEO 3 satellite - from https://bsky.app/profile/spacefromspace.com/post/3mcnxxeada22g

The #ArtemisII stack has reached launch pad 39B at the KSC: NASA album at https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasahqphoto/albums/72177720331471551

A NASA #ArtemisII Crew Rollout Media Event is now streaming on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTs799cmxBc

The roll-out of the #ArtemisII stack has begun at 12:05 UTC according to the webcast https://www.youtube.com/live/eXolMVSTX0I which offers occasional commentary - the rocket should emerge from the VAB in about an hour.

The #ArtemisII roll-out is scheduled to begin at 12:00 UTC today (Saturday) and will last 8 to 12 hours: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrVnsO_rdew = webcast, https://www.nasa.gov/artemis-ii-press-kit/ = mission press kit, https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/missions/2026/01/16/artemis-ii-moon-rocket-ready-for-big-move/ = the finished stack, ready to roll.

While preparing #ArtemisII for flight, NASA engineers are reviewing data after a confidence test Feb. 12, in which operators partially filled the SLS (Space Launch System) core stage liquid hydrogen tank to assess newly replaced seals in an area used to fill the rocket with propellant: https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/missions/2026/02/13/following-confidence-test-nasa-continues-artemis-ii-data-review/ - during the test, "teams encountered an issue with ground support equipment that reduced the flow of liquid hydrogen into the rocket. [...] Engineers will examine findings before setting a timeline for the next test, a second wet dress rehearsal this month. March remains the earliest potential launch window for Artemis II."

In 5 minutes a NASA #ArtemisII Rollout and Mission Overview News Conference on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pn9lZtMXFxQ

Also from the #LPSC #NASA HQ Briefing: the science riding along on #ArtemisII - I think "verbal descriptions" of the Moon haven't been defined science objectives since the Apollo days.

So the #ArtemisII FRR went "go" on all counts, they hope to roll out the stack to the pad again on 19 March and be ready to launch on 1 April at 22:24 UTC - the table of possible launch dates in April https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/artemis-ii-mission-availability.pdf just had another one added for 2 April.

The NASA's #ArtemisII Flight Readiness News Conference should commence in 1/2 hour on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpMMAdqMGWA

Finally an #ArtemisII update on https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/missions/2026/02/08/nasa-conducts-repairs-analysis-ahead-of-next-artemis-ii-fueling-test/ - "technicians have replaced two seals in an area where operators saw higher than allowable hydrogen gas concentrations during the test. Engineers are analyzing the removed seals and developing plans to address all issues ahead of the next rehearsal." No date for that new wet dress rehearsal has been set, and a launch date will be determined only after it is over.