NASA published the complete countdown timeline for Artemis II on Wednesday, beginning at L-49 hours and 50 minutes with the launch team arriving at their stations. The countdown proceeds through propellant loading, crew ingress, and a two-hour launch window opening at 6:24 PM Eastern on April 1. [1]

The mission will send four astronauts — three Americans and one Canadian — around the Moon and back over a 10-day flight. It is the first crewed mission beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in December 1972. The crew will not land; Artemis III, planned for 2028, carries that mandate. But the flight will test the Orion spacecraft and its life support systems with humans aboard for the first time. [2]

A mission management meeting is scheduled for Monday, March 30, to confirm launch readiness. NASA officials have said all systems remain on track. The Space Launch System rocket has been on the pad at Kennedy Space Center since mid-March following a wet dress rehearsal in February.

Three days remain. The paper's earlier coverage noted the contradiction of a government reaching for the Moon while unable to fund its own domestic security. That contradiction has only sharpened.

-- KENJI NAKAMURA, Tokyo