Artemis II crew begins "crazy first day" in space after exhilarating launch
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NASA's Artemis II astronauts will spend about 24 hours orbiting the Earth and running checks on their spacecraft and life support systems before heading to the moon.
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Space Artemis II crew begins "crazy first day" in space after exhilarating launch By William Harwood William Harwood CBS News Space Consultant Bill Harwood has been covering the U.S. space program full-time since 1984, first as Cape Canaveral bureau chief for United Press International and now as a consultant for CBS News. Read Full Bio William Harwood April 2, 2026 / 12:01 AM EDT / CBS News Add CBS News on Google With an exhilarating launch behind them, NASA's Artemis II astronauts are turning their attention to the next big challenge of their historic mission : a "crazy first day" in space. The crew is spending about 24 hours orbiting the Earth while they put their Orion capsule through its paces before finally heading for the moon. Their spectacular launch Wednesday evening marked the first piloted moonshot since the end of the Apollo program 53 years ago. Artemis II crew's plan after launch The Artemis crew will not land on the moon or even go into lunar orbit. Instead, the plan is to loop around it, getting an unprecedented view of the far side of the moon. In the process, the astronauts — commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen — are expected to travel farther from Earth than anyone before them. But first, they must thoroughly test their Orion capsule, which is making only its second flight — and its first with a crew on board — to make sure it's up to the task. At the same time, the mission will test flight controllers and procedures needed to safely send astronauts back to the moon for long-duration stays as NASA makes plans for a future moon base . "This is a test flight," NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman told CBS News. "This is the opening act in a series of missions that will send astronauts to and from the moon with great frequency as we return to stay." After an eight-minute climb to space on Wednesday, two upper stage engine firings put the astronauts in a highly elliptical 24...
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