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New York Knicks All-Star Jalen Brunson’s sister called out ESPN after personality Stephen A. Smith took aim at her brother’s team and best friend, Josh Hart, during a “First Take” segment. Smith called out Hart, Brunson’s teammate and “Roommates Show” podcast co-host, as the Knicks have struggled in recent games, especially against NBA teams with an above-.500 record. Erica Brunson, Jalen’s sister, took time to post to X on Wednesday, where she ripped the “Worldwide Leader” after listening to Smith’s rant about the Knicks. CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM”I used to always have ESPN on in the background during the day,” Erica Brunson wrote on X. “It was such a staple growing up. Now? I never turn it on. And this is a big reason why. Utterly ridiculous.”The post was prompted by a video capturing Smith’s rant about the Knicks, who have now lost three straight games. MICHIGAN STATE COACH TOM IZZO: IT WAS ‘HARD’ TURNING DOWN SUNS JOB IN 2025While the team is in playoff position, Smith aimed right at Hart.”A message to Josh Hart: Do I need to shut the hell up now? Does it make sense what I was saying now? I mean, you’re getting it now?” Smith said. “You haven’t won a game since you clapped back at me. You’re on a losing streak since he talked back to me. Maybe if you prioritize what I was saying, and pay attention to the substance and veracity of my comments instead of protecting your boys, you’d be winning games when you go up against teams that are better than .500 with their record. “Do I make sense now? Because I ain’t getting personal. I’m talking basketball, because every time you go up against somebody who’s relatively respectable, you’re wetting the bed. You’re like 4-8, or 4-9, against winning teams since the All-Star break. But you’re 9-0 against sub-.500 teams. Well, who the hell you think you’re going to be playing come playoff time?”The Knicks may be struggling in recent outings, but they’re still winners in seven of their last 10 contests. But Smith added the struggles are coming against teams they will see in the playoffs very soon.  “The New York Knicks are literally a couple of weeks away from the playoffs starting, and Josh Hart is on camera talking about, ‘We’re moving in the wrong direction. You know, what gotta get our stuff together.’ We’re looking at a team that still doesn’t have a definitive identity. We’re looking at a team that New York Knicks fans know are talented, know they’re playoff caliber,” Smith said. Like her brother, Erica Brunson went to Villanova, graduating in 2023 with a degree in communications and a minor in education. She currently works at CAA, Jalen’s agency, in basketball client and marketing services. The Knicks have just six regular-season games remaining before the playoffs begin. They currently sit third in Eastern Conference standings, only behind the Detroit Pistons and Boston Celtics.Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter. 

Stephen A. Smith said on Wednesday’s episode of “The Sage Steele Show” that he regrets voting for former Vice President Kamala Harris, telling Sage Steele he initially believed Harris could work across the aisle before concluding Democrats still did not understand why they lost.Steele asked Smith about his comments prior to the 2024 election on Dave Rubin’s show about voting for former Vice President Kamala Harris. “You went on his show, and you said that you voted for Kamala Harris?” she asked.”Yes,” Smith responded. STEPHEN A SMITH SAYS HE UNDERSTANDS PUTTING AMERICANS FIRST, SAYS ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION HURTS BLACK AMERICANSSteele then added, “And that you regretted it,” to which Smith answered, “Yeah.” Smith went on to explain that he cast that vote because he believed Harris was capable of compromise, but said he later concluded Democrats still did not understand why they lost.”I also believed that she was the kind of person that… could work across the aisle,” Smith said. “And then when I saw how things were unfolding and how out in the clouds the Democratic Party was even after they lost the election, I just said, ‘There’s no hope.’”He added, “I said, ‘I don’t know what the hell I was thinking about believing that you all would get it, because you still don’t get it.’”Smith repeatedly framed his decision through the lens of how government should function. He told Steele he is “completely and adamantly against one-party rule” and said he prefers divided government, with one party in the White House and the other controlling at least one chamber of Congress.STEPHEN A SMITH LOCKS HORNS WITH WHOOPI, SAYS DEMS MUST FOCUS ON AFFORDABILITY AND SAFETY, NOT CULTURE WARHowever, Smith said he still viewed Harris as someone Congress could pressure into consensus-driven governing, unlike President Donald Trump, whom he described as uniquely powerful and harder to restrain.”I knew that they would be able to compel her to do that,” he said of Congress. “Which would make the American people feel comfortable about whatever decision was being made because we’re understanding that things are being run from a consensus perspective.””Trump was the latter,” he said. “Trump was different in that regard. I wasn’t comfortable with that because it’s him.” Smith added that if Republicans had nominated another candidate, his vote may have been different. STEPHEN A SMITH TELLS PROGRESSIVE LEFT TO ‘SHUT THE HELL UP’ OVER VOTER ID LAWS”If it was Marco Rubio in there, I’d have voted for Marco Rubio in a heartbeat,” he said. “I would have voted for Nikki Haley in a heartbeat without question.”Steele challenged Smith on why he was so critical of Democrats after the election if he still voted for Harris in November. Smith pushed back, saying he had been publicly warning for a long time that Biden needed to step aside.”Who was the person that went on the air a year and a half ago and said we need a new president. Biden’s got to go. That was me,” Smith said.After Steele said there was still “a pull” in Smith to represent “the Black community” and his family, Smith replied, “That’s fair,” adding, “People need to be able to admit that that pull that exists. It’s human.”Fox News Digital reached out to Harris for comment, but did not immediately hear back.

As artificial intelligence continues to expand into homes and the workplace, voters are less concerned about it taking their jobs and more worried about its overall influence.The latest Fox News Poll finds 66% of registered voters are concerned about artificial intelligence, up from 63% in December and 56% in 2023 (the first time the question was asked). FOX NEWS POLL: SOUR VOTERS SAY WASHINGTON IS OUT OF TOUCHThe increase in concern is across the board, with the biggest jumps happening among women, voters without a college degree, Democrats, and liberal voters.Yet when it comes to how AI will affect the workforce, voters aren’t concerned about their own jobs even though most think it will eliminate more positions (59%) than it will create (7%) over the next 5 years.FOX NEWS POLL: VOTERS OPPOSE ACTION IN IRAN BUT GIVE US MILITARY POSITIVE MARKSSeven in 10 (69%) employed voters are unconcerned their job will be cut in the next 5 years, while 3 in 10 are worried (31%). This matches where sentiment was in November.The lack of concern may reflect broader attitudes toward AI in the workplace: 7 in 10 say it is not important to their career that they learn how to use AI, including 6 in 10 employed voters. Another 3 in 10 say it is important, and that jumps to roughly 4 in 10 among workers, voters with graduate degrees, and those living in households with an annual income of $100,000 or higher. Those most likely to feel learning AI is a career priority are men under age 45 (48%). But if they must tech up, a majority of voters feel comfortable adopting and using new technology (60% comfortable vs. 40% not comfortable).The highest numbers saying they’re comfortable are voters under age 45, particularly younger men (81%) and younger Republicans (82%).Artificial intelligence and the military…As the Iran conflict enters its fifth week, nearly two-thirds of voters are uncomfortable with the military using autonomous weapons systems (AWS). About 4 in 10 feel comfortable.The partisan divide on this issue is wide: 52% of Republicans are comfortable with AWS vs. 27% of Democrats. Fifty-eight percent of MAGA Republicans are comfortable vs. 40% of non-MAGA Republicans.There is also a prominent gender gap with men (43%) more comfortable than women (31%).Still, nearly all voters say that when the military is considering a strike that could kill people, a human should be required to make the final decision: 93% feel that way vs. 7% saying AI systems alone should have the final say. This is a bipartisan belief, with at least 9 in 10 Democrats, Republicans, and independents agreeing a human needs to make the decision.More than half of voters who have served in the military are uncomfortable with the use of AWS systems (54% not comfortable vs. 45% comfortable) and an overwhelming majority thinks a human should be making the choice between life and death (90%).One more thing…While concern about AI is up among voters, it’s far from the top worry with inflation (86% extremely/very concerned), healthcare (81%), gas prices (80%), political divisions (80%), unemployment (73%), attacks by Islamic (73%) and non-Islamic terrorists (70%), ability to pay bills (70%), and gun violence (69%) ranking higher.Concern about Iran getting a nuclear bomb ties with concern over AI (66% extremely/very) while antisemitism (63%) and detentions by ICE (62%) rank lower.CLICK HERE FOR CROSSTABS AND TOPLINEConducted March 20-23, 2026, under the direction of Beacon Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R), this Fox News survey includes interviews with a sample of 1,001 registered voters randomly selected from a national voter file. Respondents spoke with live interviewers on landlines (104) and cellphones (641) or completed the survey online after receiving a text (256). Results based on the full sample have a margin of sampling error of ±3 percentage points. Sampling error for results among subgroups is higher. In addition to sampling error, question wording and order can influence results. Weights are generally applied to age, race, education, and area variables to ensure the demographics are representative of the registered voter population. Sources for developing weight targets include the most recent American Community Survey, Fox News Voter Analysis, and voter file data.

America’s Half-Trillion-Dollar Sewage Problem

Authored by Autumn Spredemann via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Beneath city streets and suburban neighborhoods, a vast network of pipes and wastewater treatment systems is reaching the end of its life. This subterranean infrastructure is already suffering tens of thousands of failures per year, while exposing millions of Americans to contamination risks.

Utilities, plumbing experts, and environmentalists warn that the scope of the problem has expanded rapidly in recent years. As of 2024, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimated that $630 billion in wastewater infrastructure investment would be needed to repair and replace deteriorating systems. At the same time, extreme weather events and growing populations were putting additional strain on America’s aging pipes.

The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), in its 2025 report card, gave U.S. wastewater infrastructure a D-plus, which the group largely attributed to a lack of funding to meet the needs of communities with failing systems.

Meanwhile, average utility prices for wastewater consumers increased from $35 per month to nearly $65 per month between 2010 and 2020, ASCE researchers found. Even still, they said, rising utility prices aren’t “keeping pace with the growing costs for utilities to provide routine operation and maintenance.”

Paradoxically, as household water and sewer bills increased more than 24 percent between 2020 and 2025, wastewater infrastructure renewal and replacement rates for large-scale projects actually decreased over the past decade, from 3 percent to 2 percent, according to the ASCE analysis.

The scope of the problem becomes clearer when considering the sheer volume of sanitary sewer overflows. As of April 2025, the EPA estimated there were between 23,000 and 75,000 overflow incidents per year, and that didn’t include sewage that backed up into buildings or residential homes.

Some of the reasons for these spills included blockages, line breaks, design defects, and overloaded treatment systems.

A spokesperson for the EPA told The Epoch Times that the agency is “committed to accelerating investments in water infrastructure by stewarding federal funding appropriated by Congress.”

Recent funding highlights from 2025 include the Clean Water State Revolving Fund and Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act, which committed $13 billion for infrastructure improvements in communities across the nation, according to the EPA spokesperson.
A worker uses a vacuum truck to remove sewer water after a sewer main break in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Feb. 24, 2020. Much of the nation’s aging wastewater infrastructure is nearing the end of its lifespan, with thousands of spills each year exposing millions to contamination risks. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

When asked about the staggering volume of sewer overflows per year, the agency representative emphasized the value and importance of this network.

“EPA estimates that our nation’s sewers are worth a total of more than $1 trillion,“ the representative said. ”The collection system of a single large municipality is an asset worth billions of dollars and that of a smaller city could cost many millions to replace.

“Ongoing maintenance and rehabilitation can add value to the original investment by maintaining the system’s capacity and extending its life. The costs of rehabilitation and other measures to correct [sanitary sewer overflows] can vary widely by community size and sewer system type.”

The United States’ wastewater pipe network is a part of the national infrastructure that has been neglected for years and suffers “chronic underinvestment,” according to the Association of State Floodplain Managers.

The country has roughly 800,000 miles of sewer pipes, according to ASCE’s 2021 report card. For perspective, the National Highway System only covers an estimated 164,000 miles, according to the Department of Transportation.

Within that sprawling web, the average age of sewer pipes is around 45 years, ASCE’s 2021 report found. But in some American cities, sewer systems date back a century or more: in the city of St. Louis, for example, some sewer lines were built in Civil War days. And parts of Philadelphia’s working sewer system date back to 1800, Municipal Sewer and Water reported in 2025.

“Wastewater treatment systems are meant to act as a barrier to disease both for public health and environment,“ Laura Underwood, director of digital water solutions for Locus Technologies, told The Epoch Times. ”If you have overflows or failures, these events can release pathogens into waterways and increase the risk of gastrointestinal illnesses, skin infections, and contamination of recreational or drinking waters.”
A huge tank full of wastewater is seen at DC Water’s Blue Plains plant in Washington on Nov. 23, 2015. In its 2025 report card, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave U.S. wastewater infrastructure a D+, which the group largely attributed to funding gaps that don’t meet the needs of expanding usage and failing systems. Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images

Close to Home

Underwood has worked within the utility space as a compliance director for water and wastewater treatment operations. She didn’t sugarcoat the reality of what further delays in upgrades will cost Americans.

“You will continue to see more frequent overflows and plant bypasses. These spills and untreated discharge events can lead to degraded waterways with increased contamination risks to the public and environment,” she said.

This isn’t some speculative future problem. In January, more than 250 million gallons of sewage entered the Potomac River near Washington. The event marked one of the worst incidents of its kind in U.S. history; President Donald Trump called it a “massive ecological disaster.”

In an account published on the American Rivers website,  a witness to the Potomac River disaster, Gary Belan, recalled arriving at the site of the sewage overflow and seeing “several massive pumps” diverting raw waste into the C&O canal area, which runs parallel with the river.

Belan said the area is a “popular spot to walk, bike, and access the river for fishing and boating.” He said he’s been taking his kids there since they were toddlers.
Pumps and pipes divert raw sewage into the C&O Canal and around a broken section of the Potomac Interceptor in Cabin John, Md., on Feb. 16, 2026. A section of the six-foot-wide sewage pipe collapsed on Jan. 19, causing more than 250 million gallons of raw sewage to be poured into the Potomac River.

“There is a literal river of sewage flowing open along the towpath that parallels the canal,” he wrote. “The estimated repair time is going to be 9 [to] 10 months, disrupting the communities nearby. This doesn’t include time for the environmental remediation.”

Some industry insiders say surface water contamination is far from the only hazard of aging sewer system failures.

“The biggest challenge I see on the ground is aging pipes, specifically the catastrophic failure of cast iron and clay sewer laterals that connect individual properties to the main municipal line,” master plumber Steven Morgan told The Epoch Times. “These pipes were installed 50 [to] 80 years ago and are now collapsing, cracking, and being invaded by tree roots.”

Morgan is the head of technical training and development at 24hr Supply and deals with the ugly truth of America’s antiquated wastewater network regularly. He said a lot of people don’t understand how aging sewer infrastructure can cost them directly and dearly.

“Homeowners don’t realize they’re responsible for the section from their house to the street, and when it fails, they’re looking at $8,000 [to] $25,000 in emergency repairs,” he said.
Old rusty utility pipes sit on the ground where workers with East Bay Municipal Utility District are installing a new water pipe in Oakland, Calif., on April 22, 2021. Leaky pipes take on a whole new dimension when toxic sludge enters rivers and other water resources. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Morgan believes the real problem is that these failures create blockages and backups that force raw sewage into basements during heavy rains.

“Multiply that across an entire neighborhood with aging infrastructure, and you’ve got a public health crisis waiting to happen,” he said.

“The pipes aren’t just old, they’re fundamentally incompatible with modern water usage patterns and climate realities like increasingly intense storms.”

Direct contact with contaminated water spills in places such as basements, lawns, streets, or recreational areas can cause serious health concerns. Contaminated water can contain bacteria, viruses, parasites, worms, and industrial chemicals such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, commonly known as PFAS or “forever chemicals.”

Official data put the number of Americans affected by waterborne pathogens annually at 7.15 million, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Within that group, about 118,000 are hospitalized and 6,630 die from related illnesses.
A plumber turns the water back on after repairing a burst pipe in a home in Houston on Feb. 21, 2021. Bland Warren said that as weather patterns shift, wastewater systems and storage infrastructure are often required to manage more variable conditions. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Long Range Impacts

Leaky pipes take on a whole new dimension when it’s toxic sludge entering rivers and other water resources. Groundwater contamination is prevalent at 85 percent of EPA Superfund project cleanup sites.

“Failing sewer lines or poorly maintained [wastewater] lagoons can allow untreated sewage to seep into groundwater. However, this is typically a smaller-scale localized contamination,” Underwood said.

“I would say there is a larger contamination risk with [treatment] plant bypasses where a portion of untreated wastewater is discharged to a surface water outfall.”

A 2023 study from the University of Parma observed that leaky sewers negatively impacted not only surface and groundwater but also subsurface aquifers.

“Sewer pipeline ruptures are a severe risk to groundwater quality. When sewerage deterioration conditions occur, aquifers can be contaminated by contaminants contained within sewer water,” the study said.

Read the rest here…

Tyler Durden
Wed, 04/01/2026 – 18:00

It has been a rough 24 hours for C.B. Bucknor.On Tuesday night, the longtime Major League Baseball umpire made an egregious call when, without looking, he ruled a runner did not touch first base and called him out — yet Jake Bauers’ cleat hit smack-dab in the middle of the bag.After going viral on social media, Bucknor, 63, took an even harder job on Wednesday by going behind the plate, which in the ABS era has put umpires under the biggest microscope they’ve ever been under.CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM Well, Bucknor’s day ended early after a 100.2 mph pitch was foul tipped and hit him directly in his facemask.Flamethrower Jacob Misiorowski was on the bump for the Milwaukee Brewers facing Nick Fortes of the Tampa Bay Rays when Fortes fouled the pitch off. Both Fortes and Brewers catcher William Contreras immediately knew the severity of the situation.Brewers training staff came onto the field to tend to a shaken up Bucknor, who left shortly after.ASTROS PLAYER SWINGS AND MISSES AT THREE PITCHES, WALKS ON BALL THREE AS EVERYONE FORGETS THE COUNTThe game was delayed several minutes as the umpiring crew needed someone new behind the plate — the remainder of the game went with three umps.Milwaukee scored six runs in the eighth inning to take an 8-2 victory for their fifth win in their first six games of the season.Bucknor has been an umpire since 1996, working the 2005 and 2021 All-Star Game as well as five American League Division Series. He is one of the two longest-tenured umpires in the majors and has been on the field for two no-hitters.Bucknor has previously left at least two games, including one in 2013 where he took another foul tip to the mask.Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., admitted during a town hall on Tuesday that Democrats were responsible for blocking funding for the Department of Homeland Security that led to the ongoing partial shutdown of the government agency.While speaking at a town hall in Spring Lake Park, Minnesota, Omar explained that she and fellow Democrats refused to back a funding bill unless changes to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were included. Her remarks came as Congress remained in a standoff over DHS funding, with lawmakers divided over whether immigration agencies should be funded without additional restrictions.”As many of you know, Democrats said we are not going to pass the appropriations bill for the Department of Homeland Security unless they agreed to ten reforms, simple things like unmasking ICE agents when they were patrolling our communities,” Omar said.PARTIAL GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN DRAGS ON AS DHS FUNDING TALKS STALLShe said those proposals were not accepted by Republicans or the White House, framing the disagreement as the central reason the department remained partially unfunded.”So far, the Republicans and the president have refused to say ‘yes’ to any of those reforms,” Omar said, referring to the ongoing negotiations.The dispute left several DHS components without full funding, as lawmakers debated competing proposals that would either fund the entire department or exclude immigration enforcement agencies.DEMS CONTINUE TO REJECT GOP EFFORTS TO FUND ICE IN DHS FIGHT DESPITE TERROR CONCERNS: ‘THAT’S ON THEM’Omar said the funding gap extended beyond immigration enforcement, affecting multiple agencies and personnel across the department.”Which means the department doesn’t have the resources to be able to pay for not just ICE and CBP, but they don’t have the resources to pay for TSA agents, they don’t have the resources to fund the Coast Guard, to fund our cybersecurity employees,” she said.”In a time when our terror alarm is higher than usual,” Omar said.’YOU CAN CRY ABOUT IT’: TEMPERS FLARE IN SENATE AS DHS SHUTDOWN DEBATE ERUPTS, STALEMATE DIGS DEEPEROmar also discussed federal immigration enforcement levels in Minnesota, describing what she said was a reduction in personnel following concerns raised by lawmakers and community members.”We went from having nearly 4,000 CBP [Customs and Border Protection] agents and ICE agents in Minnesota to now having less than 400,” Omar said, adding, “That is still too high when you think about what normally happens … we typically would have somewhere between 150 to 200.”She said oversight efforts were ongoing, noting that prior visits with federal officials left outstanding questions that lawmakers were seeking to resolve.”We are still tracking where the investigations are on the killing of Renee Good and Alex Pretti,” she said. “We are still asking for an independent investigation… to bring justice to our neighbors that we feel were unjustly killed.”Fox News Digital reached out to Rep. Omar for comment, but did not immediately hear back.

Megan Fox has posted her latest set of racy photos.On Tuesday, Fox uploaded pictures, taken by Cibelle Levi, to Instagram. The 39-year-old actress was dressed as a provocative school girl in the images. “it is double pleasure to deceive the deceiver,” Fox captioned the images.In the first picture, Fox was laying down on a bed, writing in a journal. She was wearing a very short, plaid skirt with a white shirt tied. Fox wore glasses and thigh-high socks.In the second picture, Fox held a pair of tarot cards and the rest of the images showed the “Transformers” star posing with the items.MEGAN FOX WOWS IN RACY OUTFIT FOR INSTAGRAM RETURN; MACHINE GUN KELLY REACTS WITH CHEEKY COMMENTFans seemed to love Fox’s latest photo dump. “How does it feel to be the hottest women to ever exist on the earth,” one user wrote. Another added, “I’m in love with this return to ig.””I took notes,” another user wrote.Other fans said: “Ages like a fine wine,” “I can’t talk I lost my words,” “She’s exactly who she thinks she is,” and “Wow just wow.”Another simply said: “Stunning.”This was Fox’s latest post since returning to Instagram in March with some sexy new pictures.LIKE WHAT YOU’RE READING? CLICK HERE FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSOn March 4, Fox shared five images of herself in a black T-shirt and a matching thong. The “Transformers” icon paired her look with knee-high socks and platform heels. Her shoes had marijuana leaves on the sides.”everything is more beautiful because we are doomed,” Fox, 39, captioned her post. Prior to this post, Fox wiped her Instagram clean of any other posts she’s made over the years.With her return to Instagram, Machine Gun Kelly, the father of Fox’s nearly 1-year old daughter, wrote, “stoked i have your phone number.”In March 2025, Fox was a guest on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast on which she admitted she and Kelly had called off their engagement.CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER”I feel like everyone has such an opinion on your guys’ relationship. You got engaged, then I think it was called off, then we don’t know what’s going on with you. How would you describe your relationship with MGK?” podcast host Alex Cooper asked Fox at the time.The “Jennifer’s Body” actress said “all those things” that Cooper mentioned were “accurate things that have occurred.””What I’ve learned from being in this relationship is that it’s not for public consumption. So, I think, as of now, I don’t have a comment on the status of the relationship per se,” Fox explained. According to TMZ, Kelly and Fox’s relationship status has not changed despite his flirty comment on her Instagram post. The outlet noted the pair still remain focused on co-parenting Saga, who will turn one at the end of the month.

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Stocks rose on Wednesday, while oil prices declined to start the month, as hope grew that an end to the U.S.-Iran war was on the horizon.

Watch Live: NASA Launches Artemis II Moon Rocket

Watch Live (scheduled for launch at 6:24 p.m. EST):

NASA’s Artemis II mission is finally set to launch three Americans and one Canadian atop the Space Launch System rocket on a lunar mission not seen in more than 50 years. 

The Artemis II mission is scheduled for launch at 6:24 p.m. EST on Wednesday from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The fueling process for the Artemis II rocket has picked up speed. The rocket is now more quickly filling with liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen.
When the core stage is completely full, it will contain 196,000 gallons of liquid oxygen and 537,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen. pic.twitter.com/wejiCveeNb
— NASA Artemis (@NASAArtemis) April 1, 2026
The crew of four, including NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman (commander), Victor Glover (pilot), and Christina Koch (mission specialist), along with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen (mission specialist), will circumnavigate the moon in a 10-day flight aboard the new Orion spacecraft. 

Artemis II is a critical test of the Orion capsule and marks another step toward future lunar landings, which SpaceX is likely to support as early as 2028.

Three hours and 30 minutes after liftoff, if everything goes to plan, the Orion spacecraft and its service module will separate from the second stage of the rocket, perform a manual flight test high in Earth orbit, and prepare for a translunar injection, in other words, a trip to the moon, during which Orion’s service module will fire its engines and catapult the four astronauts to 25,000 mph on a three-day journey into lunar orbit. 

Artemis II will enter the moon’s gravitational field about four days into the mission and then begin its U-turn, enabling a flyby around the far side more than 12 hours later. If today’s launch goes according to plan, that flyby of the moon will take place next Monday. 

“No one has ever seen this full crater on the far side of the moon, and so this would be really neat,” Hansen said. “I’m excited to have a look at it. It’s just enormous, super complex, and you could probably stare at it for hours.”

The flyby will set the astronauts up on a “free-return trajectory” that will essentially slingshot them around the far side and back to Earth without burning additional fuel. 

By April 10, Artemis II is forecast to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere, nine days and one hour after liftoff, and splash down off the coast of Southern California.

A successful mission sets NASA up for a crewed 2028 lunar surface mission. 

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman has recently stated that his agency plans to build a nuclear reactor on the moon. 

Tyler Durden
Wed, 04/01/2026 – 17:50