Artemis II Crew Answers Media Questions as Launch Week Begins
摘要： 2026 年 3 月 29 日，Artemis II 乘组在隔离设施中接受了媒体远程提问，NASA 同时召开了新闻发布会，介绍任务准备状态距计划于 4 月 1 日发射的 Artemis II 载人绕月任务仅剩三天。
Crew Media Briefing
The Artemis II crew — NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman (Commander), Victor Glover (Pilot), Christina Koch (Mission Specialist), and CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen (Mission Specialist) — answered questions from reporters remotely from their quarantine facility at Kennedy Space Center. The originally scheduled 9:30 am ET session was pushed to 11:30 am ET.
Commander Wiseman emphasized crew readiness: "We are ready to launch. We went through the Flight Readiness Review. We are ready to launch. But we're also humans trying to load millions of pounds of propellant onto a giant machine and send it to the moon. So it could very well be that we get on April 1 and we're behind timeline... April 1st is not a guarantee. April 6th is not a guarantee. We got to go feel this whole thing out."
Christina Koch, who will break the record for furthest distance from Earth for a woman on this flight, said: "We're in a relay race. We're not successful until the next missions are successful — and that fires us up all the more."
NASA News Conference
Following the crew briefing, NASA held a news conference to provide a mission status update. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, CSA President Lisa Campbell, and other NASA officials attended.
Key points from NASA's update:
- Weather outlook: As of Sunday morning, the Space Force's 45th Weather Squadron gives a 20% Probability of Violation (POV), meaning an 80% chance of "go" — but primary concerns include possible violations of the Cumulus Cloud Rule, Thick Cloud Layers Rule, and Ground Winds.
- Launch window: Opens April 1 at 6:24 pm ET, remains open through April 6. If not launched by then, the next opportunity is April 30.
- Mission profile: The crew will spend about a day in Earth orbit to check out systems before heading to the Moon on a free-return trajectory. The total mission duration is approximately 10 days.
- Abort options: Orion has a Launch Abort System similar to Crew Dragon and Starliner that can separate the spacecraft from the rocket for the first three minutes of flight. Weather must also be acceptable along the Atlantic ascent corridor for a potential abort.
Pre-Launch Schedule Ahead
| Date (ET) | Event |
|---|---|
| March 30, 5:00 pm | Post-Mission Management Team news conference |
| March 31, 1:00 pm | Pre-launch news conference |
| April 1, 7:45 am | Tanking operations begin |
| April 1, 12:50 pm | NASA+ launch coverage begins |
| April 1, ~6:24 pm | Launch (2-hour window opens) |
Artemis II by the Numbers
- Crew size: 4 (3 NASA + 1 CSA)
- Mission duration: ~10 days
- Max distance from Earth: ~402,000 km (250,000 miles) — potential human spaceflight record
- Launch vehicle: NASA SLS (Space Launch System)
- Spacecraft: Orion capsule with European Service Module
- Trajectory: Free-return (like Apollo 13)
Artemis II will be the first crewed mission to travel to the distance of the Moon since Apollo 17 in 1972. The next opportunity to witness such a mission may not come for decades.