Artemis II LIVE: Artemis II Crew Begins Manual Tests of Orion Amid Onboard Toilet Malfunction

Artemis II LIVE: Following the successful launch of NASA’s Artemis II mission, Google is marking the occasion with a special Doodle. For a quick recap, Artemis II will send astronauts around the Moon and back, making it the first crewed lunar mission since the Apollo program over 50 years ago. During the 10-day journey, the crew will travel farther into space than any humans have gone since that era.

Today’s googledoodle celebrates the launch of Artemis II, the @NASA mission that will send astronauts around the moon and back for the first time in over 50 years. During the approximately 10-day voyage, the crew will test the spacecraft’s systems while traveling farther into…?

Artemis II LIVE: According to NASA, Artemis II builds on the success of the uncrewed Artemis I in 2022 and will demonstrate a broad range of capabilities needed on deep space missions. The Artemis II test flight will be NASA’s first mission with crew aboard the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft.

Artemis II LIVE: The crew of NASA's historic Artemis II mission, with support from mission control, successfully restored the Orion spacecraft's toilet system after it experienced a recurring issue following Wednesday’s launch (US local time) from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.

"Ahead of the apogee raise burn on April 1, the Artemis II crew reported a blinking fault light and mission control teams successfully assessed the data and worked with the crew to troubleshoot and resolve the issue," the US space agency said in a statement.

Artemis II LIVE: NASA’s Artemis II crew has completed a critical proximity operations demonstration, marking an early milestone in the mission, according to a NASA blog update.

The test involved manually flying the Orion spacecraft near its upper stage to evaluate handling and navigation in close-range conditions.

With the manoeuvre complete, the mission is now preparing for the next major step, which is a perigee raise burn that will adjust Orion’s orbit and set it on course for its journey toward the Moon. The milestone is part of a series of system checks designed to validate spacecraft performance during the 10-day lunar flyby.

Artemis II LIVE: The flight control team in Artemis Mission Control in Houston is on console and commanding Orion and SLS after liftoff and all the way through splashdown, monitoring every system and every milestone to keep the crew safe.

Artemis II LIVE: Engineers at NASA have confirmed that the Orion spacecraft is communicating with the Deep Space Network. For the first time in over 50 years, we’re receiving a signal from a spacecraft carrying humans toward the Moon.

Artemis II LIVE: Shubhanshu Shukla hailed the launch of Artemis II as a moment that felt both historic and deeply personal. “I remember standing on those very grounds for the first time, feeling humbled by what it represents… And today, it becomes the starting point for yet another chapter in our shared story of exploration,” he wrote on X.

Artemis II LIVE: In a post on Truth Social, US President Donald Trump extended his support to the Artemis II crew, framing the mission as a testament to American leadership.

Artemis II LIVE: The Artemis II crew has successfully completed the proximity operations demonstration, an important early test objective for the mission.

Artemis II LIVE: Check out the first pictures of the Artemis II launch from NASA’s remote cameras.

Artemis II LIVE: Astronauts aboard the ISS watched Artemis II launch live on NASA TV and later spotted the rocket’s trail over the Pacific. The stunning view from orbit shows how the spacecraft cut through Earth’s atmosphere, watch this rare perspective.

Artemis II LIVE: The Artemis II mission launched from the Kennedy Space Center at 6:35pm ET (2235 UTC), propelling four astronauts on a journey around the Moon. Watch the liftoff here:

Artemis II LIVE: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on Wednesday (local time) confirmed the successful separation of the Orion spacecraft from the upper stage of the rocket as part of the Artemis II mission and stated that the "proximity operations" test is currently underway.

In a post on X, NASA stated that astronauts aboard Orion are manually piloting the spacecraft in a manner similar to what would be required during docking with another spacecraft, marking a key milestone in the mission.