Track Artemis 1 on its journey to the Moon and back

NASA’s Space Launch System rocket may have taken flight early Wednesday morning, but as with most missions, the rocket launch is only the start of it! The Orion spacecraft is on a journey to the Moon and back, proving all the systems ahead of humans stepping aboard the spacecraft on Artemis II. Here’s how you can follow with this historic mission and track Orion on its journey.

Just as NASA setup a webpage to allow you to follow the James Webb Space Telescope on its journey out to L2, they have created a webpage to make it easy to follow Orion on Artemis I.

On there, the space agency provides visualization of the spacecraft on its journey. They also provide updated statistics on Orion’s velocity, distance from Earth, distance to the Moon, and the mission elapsed time.

NASA’s site also makes it easy to learn more about the rocket and spacecraft powering the test flight. It breaks down the different parts of the rocket, from the SRBs and RS-25s to the stage adapter and crew module. It’s a great resource to check up on as Artemis 1 continues its journey around the Moon.

In addition to the facts and visualizations, it’s a great idea to check out NASA’s YouTube channel. In addition to the 24/7 livestream of NASA TV, which will have some updates on the Artemis 1 mission in, the agency shares videos and recaps from important events – such as this launch.

At 5p.m. on Friday NASA will be providing another update on Orion’s journey to the Moon and entry into the Moon’s sphere of influence.

In addition to these official sources for updates, be sure to follow Space Explored for more updates as they come out.

The Space Explored team was on site covering the launch, so you can check out our photos from the launch as well as our coverage from this historic event.