March 28, 2026, 5:02 a.m. ET
Artemis II is set to liftoff as early as April 1 on a historic mission, sending four astronauts into deep space and around the moon for the first time in more than 50 years, making this more than just the typical rocket launch.
When the Artemis II mission clears the launch tower at Kennedy Space Center’s Pad 39B, the SLS rocket and the Orion spacecraft will be carrying humans for the first time.
As soon as April 1, the Artemis II mission will launch from Kennedy Space Center’s Pad 39B, all on what is the first time the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft have carried humans to space.
NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen will be strapped into Orion atop the massive rocket, powered by liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen at its core stage, as well as two solid rocket boosters mounted to its side. At liftoff, SLS will provide a total 8.8 million pounds of thrust, blazing along at a speed of 25,000 miles per hour by the time it reaches space and embarks on a 600,000-mile journey around the moon.
“I’ve spent a lot of time over the last probably seven months putting teams together to go look at risks across all the induvial elements of the enterprise and how they stack up,” John Honeycutt, manager of NASA’s SLS Program, said during a Flight Readiness Review media briefing on March 12. “We didn’t find any new integrated risks.”
Still, with this being only the second flight and the first crewed mission, Honeycutt admits there could be surprises.
The most risky part of the mission comes during the liftoff up until the burn to head into a high Earth orbit and then again during the movements to embark for the moon.
Here’s a look at what options NASA has to save the Artemis II crew if something goes badly wrong.
Danger begins as soon as the closeout crew and astronauts approach the actively fueling SLS rocket. So what happens if things go wrong before the final stretch of countdown, and the astronauts and any crew are 375 feet above the ground at the level of the crew access arm?
In this case, the astronauts and any closeout crew personnel would use the Emergency Egress System.
The Emergency Egress System relies on a 1,335 ft cable that runs from the upper part of the mobile launcher — the tower on the platform the rocket sits on — down to an area at the edge of the launch pad. The astronauts would climb into four baskets, each the size of a small SUV, and zip down the cable and away from the rocket.
Armored emergency vehicles would then meet the crew and transport them back to Kennedy Space Center facilities, miles from the launch pad.
“When we send our crews to the pad during launch, their safety is always at the forefront of our minds. While it is very unlikely that we will need the emergency egress and pad abort systems, they are built and tested to ensure that if we do need them then they are ready to go,” Artemis launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson said in a NASA article explaining the system.
However, once the crew is closed in the capsule, the closeout crew departs, and the crew access arm is moved away, that option is no longer available should things go wrong later in the countdown.
Should a situation arise when the crew is already inside the Orion spacecraft or off the launch pad and ascending to space, the Launch Abort System (LAS) kicks in.
The Launch Abort System is a 44-foot tower mounted atop the Orion spacecraft, designed to quickly pull it away from the SLS rocket during an emergency. Rocket motors pull, lift, separate, and steer the capsule into a safe parachute landing.
This is how this scenario would play out:
“For Lockheed Martin and NASA, the LAS is more than a piece of engineering — it’s peace of mind. It reassures astronauts, their families and the mission teams that a rapid, reliable safety system is always in place on a bad day,” Lockheed Martin’s website states.
After launch, if all continues to go well, the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS) will provide a boost to a high Earth orbit — approximately 3,000 km or 1,864 miles above Earth. For comparison sake, the ISS flies at approximately 250 miles above Earth.
Should any concerns arise with the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage burn, teams will cancel that action. Orion would then stay in a low Earth orbit until the situation is assessed, likely leading to preparation for reentry and splashdown.
There would be no journey to the moon.
Once Orion leaves low Earth orbit, the time it takes to return to Earth begins to increase greatly.
However, should all go well and the Artemis II Orion makes it to high Earth orbit, the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage will detach. The crew will then test the Orion spacecraft’s handing capabilities by flying around that jettisoned stage.
If all is well at this point, NASA will make the key decision: leave Earth orbit and head for the moon. This maneuver is known as translunar injection.
From this point forward, the length of time to return to Earth increases drastically. Should anything go wrong during the ride around the moon, the only option is the trajectory which the spacecraft is on. This is known as a free-return trajectory, and utilizes the gravity of the Earth and moon to send the spacecraft back toward Earth.
Even if none of these worst case scenarios happen, the teams at NASA will not relax until Orion and its astronauts are safely recovered from the Pacific Ocean and back on land.
“We’re not going to celebrate until we get Reid and Victor and Christina and Jeremey safely home,” said Honeycutt.
Brooke Edwards is a Space Reporter for Florida Today. Contact her at bedwards@floridatoday.com or on X: @brookeofstars.
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