Watch Artemis 2 fly through space in real time with this telescope livestream

NASA is preparing to make space history by returning humanity to the vicinity of the moon during the Artemis 2 mission set to launch today (April 1).

As the Orion spacecraft heads into space on its journey around the moon, astronomers plan to track it from Earth and you can watch along live thanks to the Virtual Telescope Project’s livestream.

According to Gianluca Masi, founder and head of the Virtual Telescope Project, the organization will attempt to view Orion as soon as it is visible over Italy, which should be around 4 hours after the planned launch window if it is successful. The livestream is currently scheduled to begin at 10:45 a.m. EDT (0245 GMT), weather permitting.

Artemis 2 is currently scheduled to launch at 6:24 pm EDT (2224 GMT) on April 1. The mission will return humans to around the moon for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972.

You can watch the launch live here on Space.com and follow along with the latest action in our Artemis 2 live blog.

Though the crew of Artemis 2 won’t actually set foot on the moon during this mission, they will make history by voyaging deeper into space than any human has before.

Currently, NASA estimates that weather remains 80% favorable for the April 1 2-hour launch window that begins at 6:24 pm EDT (2224 GMT). Should the launch not go ahead, NASA has other launch windows lined up until April 6.

The Artemis 2 mission is expected to last around 10 days, during which the Orion spacecraft will carry the crew thousands of miles beyond the moon.