NASA Artemis II Livestream April 2026 Moon Launch

AHW · Apr 11, 2026

SpeedyPhill
Welcome Home !
Artemis II mission Commander Reid Wiseman, wearing Breitling and Omega...
Looking forward to all intricate details of these limited edition (450) Breitling Navitimer Cosmonaute wrist chronographs !
(Photo: NASA)

I am really surprised that Omega is allowing another brand to push into the one marketing niche you would have thought they would do their best to protect.

Millions of people watching and photos that will be used for a long time into the future and they are not wearing an Omega most people would be interested in buying (no offence to the X-33 fans).

I wonder what the commercial agreement is behind this? If the astronauts just got free watches in exchange then that seems like an even weaker effort from Omega…

JimInOz · Apr 11, 2026

Anyone else think the stabilisation ring was on arse about (180º around)?
I thought the gap showing at the rear should have been under the hatch to allow the porch raft to dock against the side of the capsule.
Or am I uneducated and there is a reason for the aparrent misalignment?

AHW · Apr 11, 2026

JimInOz
Anyone else think the stabilisation ring was on arse about (180º around)?
I thought the gap showing at the rear should have been under the hatch to allow the porch raft to dock against the side of the capsule.
Or am I uneducated and there is a reason for the aparrent misalignment?

I haven’t watched the recovery so not sure what stage this is at, but either it failed to deploy fully or they have started to remove it to allow for the capsule to be towed/recovered.

hen · Apr 11, 2026

AHW
I am really surprised that Omega is allowing another brand to push into the one marketing niche you would have thought they would do their best to protect.

Millions of people watching and photos that will be used for a long time into the future and they are not wearing an Omega most people would be interested in buying (no offence to the X-33 fans).

I wonder what the commercial agreement is behind this? If the astronauts just got free watches in exchange then that seems like an even weaker effort from Omega…

Agreed! Whats next? A Breitling on James Bond? (shudders!)

JimInOz · Apr 11, 2026

AHW
I haven’t watched the recovery so not sure what stage this is at, but either it failed to deploy fully or they have started to remove it to allow for the capsule to be towed/recovered.

No, it was fully deployed and some of the crew were still in the capsule.

AHW · Apr 11, 2026

JimInOz
No, it was fully deployed and some of the crew were still in the capsule.

I fast forwarded through the video. It does look like the gap is deliberate and if you are to have a gap in the float it would make sense to have it directly on the opposite side to the hatch. As the crew egress the COG will shift towards the hatch so you would want the buoyancy device to support that shift. I would assume the float is mostly there for stability, and to prevent water from entering through the hatch in extreme cases (and a repeat of Mercury-Redstone 4).

JimInOz · Apr 11, 2026

AHW
I fast forwarded through the video. It does look like the gap is deliberate and if you are to have a gap in the float it would make sense to have it directly on the opposite side to the hatch. As the crew egress the COG will shift towards the hatch so you would want the buoyancy device to support that shift. I would assume the float is mostly there for stability, and to prevent water from entering through the hatch in extreme cases (and a repeat of Mercury-Redstone 4).

I think that explanation has made it much clearer, thanks for your waterborne device expertise.
😉

DoctorEvil · Apr 11, 2026

AHW
I am really surprised that Omega is allowing another brand to push into the one marketing niche you would have thought they would do their best to protect.

Millions of people watching and photos that will be used for a long time into the future and they are not wearing an Omega most people would be interested in buying (no offence to the X-33 fans).

I wonder what the commercial agreement is behind this? If the astronauts just got free watches in exchange then that seems like an even weaker effort from Omega…

I suspect that this is a private arrangement between Breitling and the astronauts concerned. What they appear to be doing is akin to what Daniel Craig did with the white dial Speedmaster Pro before it's official release. A "teaser", if you want to call it that. It reminds me of what happened with astronaut David Scott on Apollo 15 when he took a Bulova chronograph with him, at their request. That particular watch actually got worn on a lunar EVA, when the crystal of his issued Speedmaster Pro popped off on an earlier EVA and he needed something to replace it. It would be rather ironic if this happened on Artemis 4 and the astronaut concerned wore the Breitling Cosmonaute to replace a broken Speedy! Maybe Omega can revive the Alaska Project and make sure the Speedy is protected with an aluminium case so this doesn't happen.

spacemission · Apr 11, 2026

Mission accomplished.

Archer · Apr 11, 2026

It was refreshing to watch this without the SpaceX cult like forced cheering all the time...it felt like adults were in control once again.

SpeedyPhill · Apr 11, 2026

DoctorEvil
I suspect that this is a private arrangement between Breitling and the astronauts concerned. What they appear to be doing is akin to what Daniel Craig did with the white dial Speedmaster Pro before it's official release. A "teaser", if you want to call it that. It reminds me of what happened with astronaut David Scott on Apollo 15 when he took a Bulova chronograph with him, at their request. That particular watch actually got worn on a lunar EVA, when the crystal of his issued Speedmaster Pro popped off on an earlier EVA and he needed something to replace it. It would be rather ironic if this happened on Artemis 4 and the astronaut concerned wore the Breitling Cosmonaute to replace a broken Speedy! Maybe Omega can revive the Alaska Project and make sure the Speedy is protected with an aluminium case so this doesn't happen.

O.K. folks for the very last time:
Apollo 15 David Scott took two Bulova time pieces:
50 mm stopwatch Bulova with blue stenciled S on the dial, which he used to time 23 seconds DOI
44 mm prototype Bulova chronograph 885104-01 manual winding on Velcro strap
☕
In fact the lunar EVA hesalite pop-off on David Scott's NASA-issued Omega Speedmaster n° 42 occured during Apollo 15 lunar spacewalk 2, so he wore the 44 mm Bulova chronograph during EVA-3. This incident is not described in the official Apollo 15 mission report.
During Apollo 16, the hesalite on Charlie Duke's NASA-issued Omega Speedmaster n° 54 failed on the beginning of lunar spacewalk 3, so photos clearly show the watch without hesalite! The official Apollo 16 mission report described this chronograph incident in full detail.
🧐

AHW · Apr 11, 2026

JimInOz
I think that explanation has made it much clearer, thanks for your waterborne device expertise.
😉

Haha thanks. Definitely not an expert but just a somewhat educated guess based on what I can assume about the design of the capsule.

Presumably a lot of the total weight is in the heat shield/floor area, but the heat shield shape would make it sensitive to weight distribution changes when in water so it needs this device to stabilise it. It is not needed for it to float anyway.

Dan S · Apr 11, 2026

Vinz Clortho
Little bit of a rant:

Talking with the sales guy yesterday, one of the first things I mentioned was the Artemis Moon Mission which is currently happening, the pics coming back, etc. His reply was "oh yeah, saw a couple of the pics but haven't been keeping up with it."

Was thinking to myself: You work at Omega with the Speedmaster being the Moonwatch. Probably can't use the employee restroom (WC) without Speedmaster TP. It's everywhere around you.

There are four people currently in space following the same Apollo 8 mission route sending back photos of the moon not seen in 50+ years.

The Dark Side of the Moon Apollo 8 ceramic commerative Speedmaster sitting in the case right next to you which I asked to try on.

A little effort to inform yourself goes a long way for the experience. Granted with the new Constellations release, have all those talking points to in their noodles doesn't help.

Know the sales guy was young and newer to the game, but Omega dropped the ball of not having a quick hit packet of the mission, key points, and general discussion points for their sales associates."

Over the years, I have talked to plenty of knowledge reps and space enthusiasts which love talking about it, but come on. This is what you're known for and marketing is built around.

End rant.

I don't know, I think this may be representative of the general public's attitude. NASA is pimping it as hard as they can (which is their traditional greatest skill), but the mission is a yawn for me, and I haven't heard any discussion about it amongst my friends, students, or colleagues, most of whom are scientists or engineers.

Vinz Clortho · Apr 11, 2026

AHW
I haven’t watched the recovery so not sure what stage this is at, but either it failed to deploy fully or they have started to remove it to allow for the capsule to be towed/recovered.

There were reports about ocean currents causing some issues with the deployment of the stabilization ring and porch.

Vinz Clortho · Apr 11, 2026

Dan S
I don't know, I think this may be representative of the general public's attitude. NASA is pimping it as hard as they can (which is their traditional greatest skill), but the mission is a yawn for me, and I haven't heard any discussion about it amongst my friends, students, or colleagues, most of whom are scientists or engineers.

The crux of this mission was "it's already been done before." There was no moon landing, nothing to really grab the Zeitgeist. It was essentially a shakedown mission and longer compared some of the Apollo ones.

Think NASA was being quietly cautious trying to hype it up without hyping it up because of nature of the mission. It wasn't routine by any means, but came across as routine.

AHW · Apr 11, 2026

Vinz Clortho
There were reports about ocean currents causing some issues with the deployment of the stabilization ring and porch.

Ah thanks for the confirmation! Should have just stuck with my initial instinct that the deployment looked off!

Vinz Clortho · Apr 11, 2026

As Archer pointed out, this had a more professional feel to the whole mission. The one thing SpaceX does well is reaching out to the younger demographic and make things exciting and dynamic. Their launches have pizzazz and will argue have pushed to get this mission pushed forward on the timeline.

This Artemis mission was very reminiscent of Apollo and kind of brought back the nostalgia of Apollo along with updated technologies. But in true NASA fashion, they're reserved and cautious due to the seriousness of test flight and shakedown of the craft and how the crew operates in deep space. Relearning as they go.

As NASA moves forward with deep space exploration, they need to take some lessons from the marketing and social media aspects of SpaceX and Blue Origin.

Not saying we need need celebrities pimping NASA but need some traction in different avenues. Also believe with the next missions pushing closer to landing on the Moon again, the hype dial will get turned up.

AHW · Apr 11, 2026

Vinz Clortho
The crux of this mission was "it's already been done before." There was no moon landing, nothing to really grab the Zeitgeist. It was essentially a shakedown mission and longer compared some of the Apollo ones.

Think NASA was being quietly cautious trying to hype it up without hyping it up because of nature of the mission. It wasn't routine by any means, but came across as routine.

I agree. If it such a complex tasks appears routine that normally means everyone did an exceptional job.

On the NASA YouTube stream for the launch there were 3 million people watching live, which is not an insignificant number so I think the engagement was good. Of course not in comparison to the Apollo launches, but that isn’t really a fair comparison. The NASA coverage did them no favours though.

sathomasga · Apr 11, 2026

I was planning to switch to a different watch today since I've been wearing my X-33 since launch day. But after reading this post:

Artemis II Is Competency Porn and We Are Starving For It

I'm going to keep the X-33 on my wrist for a while.

wagudc · Apr 11, 2026

DoctorEvil
Great to see Integrity touching down safely. Regarding the watches of Artemis 2, here's a great little video about it:

According to the video, the Breitling Cosmonautes worn by the astronauts look like a reference that currently isn't found in their catalogue. Given that Watches and Wonders starts soon, it could be a new release that's timed to coincide with Artemis 2. But as this is not an official collaboration between NASA and Breitling, the astronauts can't say too much about it.

Thanks for sharing this. I loved hearing that Christina Koch wore her Dad's Speedmaster on the mission. That is so cool!

NASA Artemis II Livestream April 2026 Moon Launch

AHW

JimInOz

AHW

hen

JimInOz

AHW

JimInOz

DoctorEvil

spacemission

Archer

SpeedyPhill

AHW

Dan S

Vinz Clortho

Vinz Clortho

AHW

Vinz Clortho

AHW

sathomasga

wagudc

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