Next-generation Moon rocket targets April 1 launch for first deep space astronaut mission in more than half a century

My Substack: substack.com/home/post/p-...

Good morning from Kennedy Space Center! Weather forecast still 80% favorable for April 1 launch of #Artemis2

Moon to Mars | NASA's Artemis Program - NASA Explore how NASA’s Artemis mission will return humans to the Moon, prepare for Mars, and shape the future of space exploration.

Get the latest details at nasa.gov/artemis

My moon photo from March 29, 2026. Other images credit NASA

NASA’s launch window for the crewed Artemis II mission around the Moon will open this Wednesday, April 1, 2026 through April 6- Current scheduled liftoff is at 6:24pm ET on April 1 and will send 4 astronauts on a 10-day journey around the moon and back to Earth on board the Orion capsule.

Marty McGuire | Backyard Astronomy Guy - Apollo-ISRO Follow me: My NASA Solar System Ambassador Profile

📺 Watch the PBS episode (my processed image at the 24-min mark) youtube.com/watch?v=EYu1IEkgFMU
👨‍💻 See my image processing steps: backyardastronomyguy.com/apollo-isro

Apollo 11 landing site imaged by the Indian Space Research Organization, processed by Marty McGuire

Thanks to @pbs.org for including my processed image of the Apollo 11 landing site in their latest episode of “Horizons,” but @NASA did the heavy lifting by actually going to the Moon, and the ISRO sent their lunar satellite in 2021 which spotted it while conducting other surveys! 🤣🚀👨‍🚀👨‍🚀🛰️

How the Artemis moon missions are shaping the next era of exploration YouTube video by PBS NewsHour

📺 Watch the PBS episode (my processed image at the 24-min mark) youtube.com/watch?v=EYu1IEkgFMU
👨‍💻 See my image processing steps: backyardastronomyguy.com/apollo-isro

Marty McGuire | Backyard Astronomy Guy - Apollo-ISRO MY LINKS: My NASA Solar System Ambassador Profile

The episode dives into the upcoming Artemis II mission and revisits the legacy of past lunar exploration.

Even cooler? The raw data came from ISRO’s Chandrayaan-2 orbiter in 2021, and I figured out how to download and process it. See how I did it at backyardastronomyguy.com/apollo-isro

🚀 Big news!
My processed images of the Apollo 11 & 12 landing sites are being included in @pbs.org’s next episode of "Horizons" this Friday March 20, 2026 around 7 PM ET online at www.pbs.org/show/horizons, or Saturday evening on your local PBS station. (Check your local listings)

🚀 Starting my 10th year as a NASA #SolarSystemAmbassador!
🎤 My next free, public event (registration required) is Saturday, April 11, 2026, 2pm at the Bethlehem Area Public library main branch pabapl. Details on my website BackyardAstronomyGuy.com

Freedom high school has some nice grassy fields next to their parking lot.

Jupiter and its Galilean Moons

Jupiter and its Galilean Moons among the stars

Our Moon

Our Moon

Got some much needed telescope time tonight- enjoy my shots of Jupiter and our Moon!
🔭 Sky Watcher AZ-GTI/SkyMax 127
📷 Canon EOS R6 Mark III

🌕 Full “Snow” Moon rising: February 1, 2026
Which one do you like better?
Image 1 taken at 5:41pm ET, Image 2 taken at 6:19pm.
📷 Canon R6 Mark III/RF 24-240 @ 240 & cropped.

Callisto Meet Callisto, Lockheed Martin's tech demo that flew on NASA's Artemis I mission, highlighting how commercial technologies may support future astronauts.

Thanks to Lockheed Martin for including my comment submission to the Callisto technology demonstration. My messages were selected, displayed and recorded on the payload’s tablet during the Artemis I mission.
Details: lockheedmartin.com/en-us/capabilities/space/callisto.html

During the Artemis I uncrewed test mission around the Moon in November 2022, I had a special message displayed in the Orion cockpit!

This message was shown at Mission Elapsed Time (MET) of 02:09:35:21 (2 days, 9 hours, 35 minutes, 21 seconds), at a distance of 189,616 miles from Earth!

Cold 2-hour hike through Jacobsburg State Park today on my last day of vacation & playing around with my Canon USA R6 Mark III’s settings.

This is still my best telescope photo of the International Space Station from April 2021, with NASA’s reference in next post of what was docked at that time.
🔭📷: 10” Dobsonian (manually tracked!) & Canon 60D

From NASA JPL: Make a 2026 Moon Phases Calendar, and follow the lunar cycle all year long!

🌖 All you need is a printer, scissors, tape, and a brass fastener: www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/resource...

Tonight’s 7.5% illuminated waxing crescent Moon’s “Earthshine” was quite a view, which can only be seen a few days before and after the new Moon. Earthshine is Earth’s reflected sunlight on the Moon’s night side.
📷 @canonusa R6 Mark III, RF 24-240 lens @240 and cropped.

Before sunrise, December 16, 2025. 🛩️🌘
📷 Canon R6 Mark III
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

Getting creative with the Full Moon and my new Canon R6 Mark III 📷. Which one do you like best?

Caught a comet tonight! I stacked 75 images of Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon), using my Canon 60D/300mm lens. Wish I could do better! I aligned all the images on the comet nucleus, showing some movement relative to stars and a satellite?

Fuuuuucccccckkkkkk

I captured my first 22-degree solar halo with sun dogs!
📍Nazareth, Pennsylvania
September 30, 2025 at 5:30pm ET

Finally freeing up laptop storage by deleting 10 years’ worth of “bad astronomy.” Thousands of giant .CR2 files of blurry stars, overexposed moons, and what I once swore was Saturn but was clearly just camera shake or bad focus. Hoping to make a new gallery at the end of it all!

🔭🪐 Saturn - September 19, 2025

A satellite photo of a volcano taken from space FROM THE SIDE