Artemis II tracker: See spacecraft's latest location, where it's headed

The four astronauts in the Artemis II mission are about 148,000 miles away from Earth, traveling at a velocity of 2,737 mph as of 11:18 a.m. ET April 9. The crew is roughly 7 days and 16 hours into the 10 day mission.

While orbiting Earth and relatively close to home, the crew tested life support systems and practiced Orion's manual handling and docking capabilities. After all testing was complete the mission was cleared to set its course for the moon.

This mission, which successfully launched at 6:35 p.m. ET April 1, is the second in a program that will ultimately land astronauts on the moon's surface and construct a base there.

Here's where Artemis II is right now and what will happen next

Artemis II has completed the flyby of the moon and is returning to Earth as of Thursday April 9, 11:18 a.m. ET.

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After the flyby the crew was congratulated by President Donald Trump, in a live conversation said NASA.

What's next

The crew will work through their reentry checklist and put on their suits a few hours before the last day of the mission begins. The service module separates when Orion is 75 miles above Earth's surface.

What has happened so far

As the moon continued on its orbit, Orion and the onboard crew's paths met. Around 2:45 p.m. ET on April 6, the seven-hour flyby began. The crew made detailed observations of geologic features on the lunar surface.

At 7:07 p.m., April 6, the Artemis II mission reached its furthest point, traveling a total of 252,760 miles from Earth.

At about 3 hours, 20 minutes into the mission April 1, Artemis separated from the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS).

According to NASA, ICPS' job of propelling Orion was done, so its next purpose was to act as a target for the crew. The crew practiced piloting Orion in manual mode and used the ICPS as a stand in for a spacecraft that Orion would dock to in future missions. The mission was successful, NASA said.

During manual close‑range maneuvering that lasted about 70 minutes, the crew guided the spacecraft through a series of controlled approach-and-retreat maneuvers.

With testing done, the crew executed an automated departure burn to safely back away from the ICPS. About 15 minutes after the separation, the ICPS performed its own disposal burn, setting itself on a path to reenter the Earth’s atmosphere and burn up over the Pacific Ocean.

After the ICPS was sent back to Earth and over eight hours in space the astronauts went to bed. Their rest was interrupted to test an emergency communications system at the most distant part of the orbit.

NASA gave go ahead to send Artemis II toward moon

Artemis II reached the Trans Lunar Injection (TLI) burn milestone on April 2. The burn, which began at approximately 7:49 p.m. Thursday, lasted five minutes and 51 seconds.

NASA gave the go-ahead for the last major engine burn, officially moving the Orion spacecraft out of Earth orbit. The crew ignited Orion’s main engine to build speed for the 230,000‑mile journey to the moon. They were expected to travel faster than any human in history.

Artemis has faced multiple setbacks because of technical problems, including hydrogen leaks that required rolling the massive rocket back for repairs. But these have been brief delays compared with the long wait since the space agency's last Apollo mission in 1972.