Preparing for Moon Flyby | NASA Artemis II Mission
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Before going to sleep on flight day 5, the Artemis II crew snapped one more photo of the Moon, as it drew close in the window of the Orion spacecraft. Orion and the four humans aboard entered the lunar sphere of influence at 12:37 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) on April 6, at the tail end of the fifth day of their mission. That marked the point where the Moon's gravity had a stronger pull on the spacecraft than the Earth's. Artemis II's closet approach to the Moon will come on flight day 6, as they swing around the far side before beginning their journey back to Earth.
About an hour after entering the lunar sphere of influence, Artemis II Mission Specialist Christina Koch said, "We are now falling to the Moon rather than rising away from Earth. It is an amazing milestone!"
Watch live coverage of the Artemis II lunar flyby on NASA+, Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Hulu, Netflix, HBO Max and Roku beginning at 1 p.m. EDT Monday, April 6, 2026, alongside the agency’s 24/7 coverage on its YouTube channel.
NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket carrying the Orion spacecraft with NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, commander; Victor Glover, pilot; Christina Koch, mission specialist; and Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, mission specialist onboard launched, Wednesday, April 1, 2026, on the Artemis II mission from Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
NASA’s Artemis II Mission is taking Wiseman, Glover, Koch, and Hansen on a 10-day journey around the Moon and back aboard their Orion spacecraft. They are now over three-quarters of the way to the Moon.
Track NASA’s Artemis II Mission in real time:
https://www.nasa.gov/missions/artemis-ii/arow/
Image Date: April 6, 2026
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