[HN Gopher] NASA targets Artemis II crewed moon mission for Apri...
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NASA targets Artemis II crewed moon mission for April 1 launch
Author : Brajeshwar
Score : 56 points
Date : 2026-03-13 15:29 UTC (7 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.npr.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.npr.org)
| abeppu wrote:
| April 1 is an in interesting choice for a big event that will be
| news if it goes well and bigger news if it goes badly
| jedberg wrote:
| They don't really have a choice. The launch window is small and
| they either make it or they don't.
| philipwhiuk wrote:
| There is a window on the 2nd. But you don't aim for the
| second half of the launch period and hope you make it, you
| aim for the start to allow time to resolve issues without
| waiting for the next window (which is the end of the month).
| ohyoutravel wrote:
| Well at least there's a 50% probability of success
| echelon wrote:
| What factors are there for the lunar launch window?
|
| It can't be weather, here, right? That's too far ahead.
|
| Is it perigee?
|
| If this window is missed, when is the next one?
| jedberg wrote:
| The position of the moon relative to the earth and the sun.
| The windows are about a month apart.
| hypeatei wrote:
| "April fools, your space shuttle just disintegrated!"
| edgyquant wrote:
| "As early as April 1" is a weird way to describe something that
| is two months behind schedule
| NitpickLawyer wrote:
| That's probably a "layman's terms" translation of a more
| technical term NET April 1, which would be "Not Earlier Than"
| and is widely used in the industry.
| Insanity wrote:
| Messaging is everything!
| StableAlkyne wrote:
| Being a few months behind schedule is forgivable for human
| space flight.
|
| If a SpaceX Falcon blows up on the pad, that's one thing. It's
| expensive but they accept that risk to move faster. At least
| they gain knowledge of what failed, to do better next time.
|
| You can't apply that mentality once a human is piloting it
| however. That's how you get Columbia, Challenger, or Apollo 1.
| philipwhiuk wrote:
| > If a SpaceX Falcon blows up on the pad, that's one thing.
| It's expensive but they accept that risk to move faster. At
| least they gain knowledge of what failed, to do better next
| time.
|
| Assuming it's not carrying a SpaceX Crew Dragon with crew
| onboard ;)
|
| Also, it's a bit of a dated metaphor. Falcon 9 is by most
| accounts, now the most reliable rocket in history and is
| pretty design-locked. The modern metaphor is SpaceX Starship
| :)
| u1hcw9nx wrote:
| Six day launch window April 1-6.
| bcraven wrote:
| As it's currently March, April seems very close to me. I didn't
| know there was a moon flight planned so this is a great
| headline to me.
| dylan604 wrote:
| Seeing how the last test at the beginning of Feb found hydrogen
| leaks, it does sound very early to me
| tekla wrote:
| Why? They fixed it.
| dylan604 wrote:
| In a month is why. It seems if it was fixed that fast it
| was easy to find. If it was so easy to find, why was it not
| found. These are the types of questions that seem to make
| NASA push things further than just a month. So again, it
| seems fast to me
| tekla wrote:
| It feels fast to you because you don't know what
| happened, and you are asking questions that have been
| answered by NASA already in public.
|
| It was easy to find because they knew what valve was
| leaking.
|
| It was not found beforehand because they don't have the
| ability to do the tanking test without rolling it to the
| launch pad and its very hard to know how a system
| responds to liquid hydrogen.
| bombcar wrote:
| I didn't even know we were within _years_ of putting people
| around the moon, so I was surprised!
| throwawaymobule wrote:
| Scott Manley does a roundup video every two or so weeks
| called 'deep space updates' that I suggest watching.
|
| The start is all rocket launches, which gives a good idea of
| how much is happening.
| mikkupikku wrote:
| Can't they just schedule it for March 32nd?
| AverageSavage wrote:
| They are snip hunting that day.
| AverageSavage wrote:
| Operation: Sike! is a go! ;)
| la3lma wrote:
| Surely they are joking?
| pfdietz wrote:
| The whole program is a joke.
| dmix wrote:
| Then we just have to see if SpaceX can pull off orbital refueling
| at scale.
|
| Starship 3 first launch will be in April as well
| https://www.caller.com/story/news/local/2026/03/11/spacex-st...
| brcmthrowaway wrote:
| Lunar surface?
| bhhaskin wrote:
| Fly-by
| proee wrote:
| Imagine riding in a vehicle that has been tested zero times. I
| would be terrified. Best of luck to the team.
| riffic wrote:
| Have the vehicles not been tested? It seems a strange premise
| to make.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemis_I
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploration_Flight_Test-1
| ta9000 wrote:
| It's kind of wild that I never heard about this. Space
| exploration really has dropped off the map news/media wise.
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(page generated 2026-03-13 23:01 UTC)