'And lift off!' Watch the moment NASA's Artemis II rocket launches, taking astronauts to the Moon

Watch a video of NASA's Artemis II rocket launching from Kennedy Space Center. Catch the 10-second countdown and lift-off.

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The launch of the Artemis II mission, 1 April 2026. Credit: NASA TV — Credit: NASA TV

Iain Todd

Published: April 2, 2026 at 8:17 am

NASA's Artemis II mission successfully launched at 18:35 EDT (22:35 UTC) on April 1st, 2026, from Kennedy Space Center.

Onboard are astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen.

Lift-off marked the beginning of a 10-day mission to take the Artemis II crew around the Moon and back, for the first time since the Apollo missions.

You can watch the 10-second countdown and lift-off via NASA's playback video below.

More on Artemis II

The launch of the Artemis II mission, 1 April 2026. Credit: NASA TV — Credit: NASA TV

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Science journalist

Iain Todd is BBC Sky at Night Magazine's Content Editor who has been writing about astronomy and space science for over a decade. He has covered major stargazing events, space launches and the latest news in cosmology, astrophysics, planetary and space science.