By ZYMP Tech Desk — April 3, 2026
Humanity is heading back to the Moon, and this time it’s personal. NASA’s Artemis II mission lifted off from Kennedy Space Center on April 1 at 6:35 p.m. ET, marking the first time in more than half a century that astronauts have embarked on a journey beyond low Earth orbit. The four-person crew is now hurtling through space aboard the Orion spacecraft—christened Integrity—on a 685,000-mile, 10-day journey that will take them around the Moon and back.
A Giant Leap, 54 Years in the Making
The last time humans travelled beyond Earth orbit was Apollo 17 in December 1972. For context, that was before most of today’s tech workforce was even born. Artemis II represents not just a return to deep space, but a fundamental shift in how humanity approaches exploration—this mission is a crewed test flight, designed to validate the systems that will eventually put boots on the lunar surface and establish a permanent base.
The mission got off to a dramatic start. After a brief launch delay, the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket roared to life, sending Orion and its crew on their way. The early hours have been a carefully choreographed sequence of orbital adjustments. On April 2, the spacecraft completed its perigee raise burn—a 43-second firing of the service module’s main engine that raised the lowest point of Orion’s orbit and refined its trajectory for the journey ahead.
Meet the Crew Making History
The Artemis II crew represents a milestone in diversity and experience:
- Commander Reid Wiseman – A veteran naval aviator and former chief of the NASA astronaut office, Wiseman leads the mission with deep operational experience from his 2014 ISS expedition.
- Pilot Victor Glover – A US Navy captain who served as pilot of SpaceX’s Crew-1 Dragon mission, Glover brings hands-on commercial spacecraft experience to the mission.
- Christina Koch – Making history as the first woman to travel around the Moon, Koch holds the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman (328 days) and was part of the first all-female spacewalk in 2019.
- Jeremy Hansen – A Canadian Space Agency astronaut and the first non-American to fly to the Moon, Hansen represents the growing international dimension of space exploration.
The crew was awakened at 7:06 a.m. EDT on April 2 to the sounds of “Sleepyhead” by Young and Sick—a NASA tradition of waking astronauts with music chosen by their families. After monitoring systems through the critical perigee raise burn, they returned to rest before their first full day in space.
The Critical Burn Ahead
The mission’s defining moment is yet to come. NASA has given a “go” for the translunar injection (TLI) burn—a five-minute, 49-second engine firing scheduled for 7:49 p.m. EDT on April 2 that will propel Orion out of Earth orbit and onto a free-return trajectory toward the Moon. The burn will produce a velocity change of 1,274 feet per second, committing the spacecraft irrevocably to its lunar path.
Flight controllers are monitoring engine performance, guidance systems, and navigation data around the clock. The free-return trajectory means that even in the event of a system failure, Orion’s path would naturally swing around the Moon and return to Earth—a safety architecture inherited from the Apollo programme.
Why Artemis II Matters for Technology
Beyond the human drama, Artemis II is a technology showcase of staggering proportions. The Orion spacecraft alone represents a quantum leap over its Apollo predecessors:
- Computing power: Orion’s flight computers are roughly 10,000 times more powerful than Apollo’s guidance computers, enabling autonomous abort capabilities that simply weren’t possible in the 1960s.
- Life support: Advanced environmental control systems can sustain the crew for up to 21 days independently—critical for deep space missions where resupply isn’t an option.
- Heat shield: Orion’s thermal protection system is designed to withstand temperatures of nearly 5,000°F (2,760°C) during re-entry—significantly hotter than ISS return trajectories because of the higher velocities involved in lunar return.
- Radiation shielding: Enhanced radiation protection addresses one of the most significant challenges of deep space travel, gathering crucial data for future Mars missions.
The mission is also validating the European Service Module, built by the European Space Agency, which provides propulsion, power, air, and water—a model of international cooperation that will define the Artemis programme going forward.
The Road Ahead
Artemis II is explicitly a test flight. No landing is planned—the crew will fly around the Moon at an altitude of approximately 6,400 miles above the lunar surface before returning to Earth. But every system, every sensor reading, and every moment of the journey is gathering data that will directly feed into Artemis III, currently targeted for 2027, which aims to land the first woman and first person of colour on the Moon.
The broader programme envisions the Lunar Gateway—a planned space station orbiting the Moon—serving as a staging point for both lunar surface operations and eventual crewed missions to Mars. It is, without hyperbole, the most ambitious human spaceflight programme since Apollo, and arguably more complex.
Nothing Enters the Smart Glasses Arena
In decidedly more terrestrial tech news, London-based hardware startup Nothing is reportedly preparing to enter the smart glasses market. According to Bloomberg, the company—valued at $1.3 billion after a $200 million Series C round last year—plans to release AI-powered smart glasses in 2027, alongside AI-enabled earbuds expected this year.
The glasses will reportedly feature cameras, microphones, and speakers, connecting to a smartphone and cloud AI services. Nothing CEO Carl Pei, initially sceptical of the form factor, has apparently shifted strategy toward a multi-device AI ecosystem—a move that puts the company in direct competition with Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses, which just launched two prescription-compatible models this week, as well as anticipated entries from Apple and a Samsung-Google collaboration rumoured for later this year.
The wearables market is heating up fast, and Nothing’s distinctive transparent design language could offer a refreshing alternative to the increasingly crowded field. Whether style alone is enough to carve out market share against Meta, Apple, and Google remains the €1.3 billion question.
The Bottom Line
From the vast reaches of cislunar space to the bridge of your nose, technology is pushing boundaries in every direction this week. Artemis II is a reminder that human ambition hasn’t dimmed—and that the tools at our disposal have matured beyond what the Apollo engineers could have imagined. Meanwhile, the race to put AI on your face is producing a wave of competition that should benefit consumers with better products and lower prices.
It’s a good time to be paying attention to technology.