After more than 50 years, the United States is heading back to the moon.
On Wednesday afternoon, NASA is set to launch the four-person Artemis II mission on a 10-day trip that will orbit the moon and return. The mission will see the astronauts, Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, astronaut Christina Koch, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, on a test mission aboard NASA’s SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft as they confirm the spacecraft’s systems operate as designed in the deep space environment.
Should the test mission be successful, it would boost NASA’s chances of sending a crew to the moon as early as 2028. With an 80% weather favorability for the Wednesday, April 1, launch, which takes place from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at approximately 6:24 p.m. ET, the various news outlets are providing special coverage of this historic liftoff.
Bloomberg
- Ed Ludlow will report live from the Kennedy Space Center, delivering coverage throughout the launch sequence and immediate aftermath.
CNN
- Anchor Boris Sanchez will lead CNN’s live coverage from the Kennedy Space Center beginning at 5 p.m. He will be joined on location by Pete Muntean and Randi Kaye.
- CNN’s David Culver will be with the crowds gathered in Titusville, Florida. Ed Lavandera will report from the Johnson Space Center in Houston, and Tom Foreman will provide the latest from DC.
- CNN Space and Science writers Jackie Wattles and Ashley Strickland will provide in-depth coverage of Artemis II’s travel to deep space.
Fox News/Fox Weather
- Fox News is ceding its 6 p.m. hour to sister network Fox Weather for its launch coverage.
- Meteorologists Ian Oliver and Steve Bender will anchor live coverage beginning at 5 p.m. until launch.
- Fox Weather correspondent Brandy Campbell will be covering the launch on site at the Kennedy Space Center.
NBC News
- Tom Llamas will anchor NBC Nightly News from the Kennedy Space Center. He will begin coverage on the network, NBC News Now, and NBCNews.com at 6 p.m.
- Joining him from the Kennedy Space Center are Tom Costello, Al Roker, and Aaron Gilchrist. Ryan Chandler will be reporting from Cocoa Beach.
- Prior to that, Hallie Jackson will anchor rolling coverage on MS NOW beginning at 4 p.m.
NewsNation
