NASA’s Artemis II mission has reached a critical milestone in its journey to the Moon, successfully executing the translunar injection (TLI) burn and committing the crew to a lunar flyby trajectory. On April 2, 2026, at 7:49 p.m. EDT, the Orion spacecraft fired its main engine for five minutes and 50 seconds, propelling the crew out of Earth orbit and toward the lunar far side.
This maneuver represents the “point of no return” for the crewed portion of the mission. At the moment of ignition, Orion was positioned 115 miles above Earth. The burn accelerated the spacecraft to a velocity of 22,670 miles per hour, utilizing an engine with a direct link to aerospace history. The European Service Module’s AJ10 engine is a refurbished Orbital Maneuvering Engine (OME) that previously flew on nine missions aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis. This reuse of flight-proven hardware highlights NASA’s ongoing integration of legacy technology into modern deep-space exploration.
The mission’s crew—Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen—have already begun documenting their journey. Commander Wiseman captured a spectacular series of images of Earth, including a historic portrait that captures two auroras and zodiacal light as the Earth eclipses the sun. These first images of Earth from Artemis II mark the furthest distance humans have traveled from home since the Apollo era.
Beyond the navigation milestones, the mission has served as a real-world test for deep-space life support, and maintenance. The crew recently resolved a technical glitch with Orion’s Universal Waste Management System. After a fault light appeared shortly after reaching orbit, Christina Koch and the team at Mission Control in Houston successfully troubleshot the system, restoring the spacecraft’s toilet to full operation and avoiding the need for contingency waste collection.
To combat the physiological effects of deep space, the crew is utilizing a specialized flywheel exercise device. Unlike the massive hardware found on the International Space Station, this compact, cable-based system allows for both aerobic rowing and resistive movements like squats and deadlifts, providing up to 400 pounds of resistance. During these sessions, ground teams are monitoring the air revitalization system to ensure the cabin environment remains breathable and stable, whereas also analyzing how crew movement impacts the spacecraft’s orientation.
As of 10 a.m. EDT on Friday, April 3, 2026, Orion is continuing its approach to the Moon. The spacecraft is currently approximately 88,000 miles from Earth and 170,000 miles from the lunar surface, traveling at roughly 4,260 miles per hour.
The mission’s success in integrating refurbished hardware and managing onboard technical failures highlights the evolving nature of lunar exploration. These technical curiosities of the Artemis mission—from the repurposed Shuttle engine to the specialized exercise gear—underscore the complexity of sustaining human life in the void between Earth and the Moon.
