Artemis II Is Orbiting the Moon — Can You See It From Earth?

The Artemis II mission launched on April 1, 2026, with four astronauts — Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen — aboard the Orion spacecraft headed toward the moon. While the crew won’t land on the moon and explore during this 10-day trip, they will conduct vital research that is expected to aid future trips to the moon and even Mars.

Now, when Artemis II launched, folks could watch it take off live from Florida at Cape Canaveral from the Kennedy Space Center. Some in southern Georgia were also expected to be able to see the spacecraft launch within the first few seconds of liftoff.

With the Artemis II mission now active and the spacecraft coasting around the moon, many want to know if you can see Artemis II from Earth. Here’s what to know.

While you can’t physically see Artemis II from Earth, you can track its exact location in real time while the mission is active. So any speck or sparkle you see in the sky can be ruled out as another object or a star, not Artemis II.

Now, if you’re interested in keeping tabs on Artemis II and its whereabouts over the course of its 10-day trip around the moon, here’s how to do it.

To see where Artemis II is in real time during its 10-day voyage, you can visit NASA’s designated webpage, the Artemis Real-Time Orbit Website (AROW), or download the NASA app to track it.

AROW is an application that lets folks follow the Artemis II mission in a sense, as it provides real-time updates on how long the mission has been underway, the spacecraft’s velocity, its distance from Earth, and its distance to the moon.

When viewing the AROW website, there are two viewing modes available: One shows the view from Earth and where Orion is in relation to it, and the other shows the view from Orion and its relation to the moon and the sun.

While you’re not seeing the actual Orion spacecraft, you can drag your cursor to move around the spacecraft model and get a sense of its position and distance from different points like the sun and the moon.

With AROW active in your web browser, you can also see the numbers fluctuate in real time, meaning you can see Orion’s distance from Earth and the moon constantly changing.

NASA has made it possible for folks to track Orion’s real-time location thanks to the spacecraft being equipped with sensors that collect data and send it to Mission Control at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, NASA notes on its website. Data began being transmitted about a minute after liftoff and will continue to transmit throughout the duration of the mission.