NASA's Artemis II astronauts to talk to media after moon mission

• The Artemis II astronauts will host a news conference on April 16 following their historic trip around the moon.
• The four-person crew completed a 10-day journey that was the first human moon mission in over 50 years.
• Artemis II was a test flight for NASA's program to eventually land astronauts on the moon and establish a long-term base.
• NASA will provide live coverage of the news conference from the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Less than a week after completing a historic trip around the moon, NASA's Artemis II crew will make one of their first public appearances together.

NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, as well as the Canadian Space Agency's Jeremy Hansen, will take questions from the media during an April 16 news conference, NASA announced. The event would come almost a week since the astronauts returned to Earth after a 10-day journey that saw them swinging by the moon without landing.

The second mission under NASA's multibillion-dollar Artemis program, Artemis II was the first lunar venture in more than 50 years to carry a crew within the vicinity of the moon. The mission served as a vital test flight as the U.S. space agency looks to put boots on the lunar surface in the years ahead and build a longterm base on the moon's south pole.

Here's what to know about the Artemis II news conference and how to watch NASA's live coverage.

Artemis II astronauts to appear for news conference. Time, date

Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen are set to take questions from the media Thursday, April 16, at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, according to NASA.

Beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET, the news conference would be one of the first public appearances all four crew members have made together since returning April 10 from the first human moon mission in more than 50 years. The Artemis II astronauts also appeared together Saturday, April 11 – a day after making a splashdown near California – for a brief welcome home ceremony at the Johnson Space Center.

How to watch NASA livestream

NASA will provide live coverage of the news conference on the agency’s YouTube channel. The news conference is not listed as a scheduled event on NASA+, the agency's free online streaming service.

What was the Artemis II mission?

Artemis II marked NASA's first human moon mission since the iconic Apollo era came to an end with its final moon landing in 1972.

As the astronauts selected for the Artemis II mission, Wiseman, Glover, Koch and Hansen boarded an Orion spacecraft April 1 to hitch a ride to orbit. NASA's towering Space Launch System, the most powerful rocket the agency has ever launched, provided the initial burst of thrust to send the mission on its way with a liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

During the 10-day journey, the Orion capsule took the astronauts farther from Earth than any humans have ever been – surpassing a record set in 1970 during the infamous Apollo 13 mission that nearly turned into a disaster. While more than a quarter-million miles from Earth, the astronauts aboard Orion whizzed by the moon, cruising no closer than about 4,000 miles above the surface while seeing sights of the far side that no one had ever laid eyes upon in person.

The mission, which served as a critical test flight ahead of a moon landing targeted for 2028, ended April 10 when the astronauts aboard the Orion vehicle splashed down in the Pacific Ocean near San Diego.

Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at [email protected]