The Artemis II crew launched into the history books Wednesday, blasting off aboard NASA’s Orion spacecraft on a mission around the moon — the first crewed journey beyond low-Earth orbit in more than 50 years.
Astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch of the U.S., and Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency, boarded the 322-foot Orion spacecraft at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39B on Wednesday afternoon, just hours before launching at 6:35 p.m.
The Artemis II crew is expected to travel around the moon and back, marking the first crewed mission beyond low Earth orbit since 1972.
Although the mission will not land on the lunar surface, it is designed to carry the four-person crew farther from Earth than any crewed mission since the Apollo era.
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NASA describes the Orion spacecraft as the most powerful launch system rocket it has ever built.
Standing 322 feet tall, the rocket will send the spacecraft and its crew into deep space for the first time, testing critical systems ahead of proposed future lunar landing missions.
Now that the crew is in space, its members are expected to spend several days in space, including a multi-day journey around the far side of the moon before returning to Earth for a planned splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.
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NASA intended to launch Artemis II in February, but technical issues discovered during testing forced the agency to push it back. Such issues included fuel and helium leaks that required additional repairs to the Space Launch System rocket.
Artemis II follows the uncrewed Artemis I test flight and is considered a major step toward future missions, including Artemis III, which will ultimately involve testing with a lander from Space X, Blue Origin or both, while in Earth’s orbit, according to NASA’s website.
Initially, Artemis III was aiming to land on the moon, though that is now the intent for the Artemis IV mission.
NASA said previously that the Artemis program is intended to support long-term lunar exploration and lay the groundwork for human missions to Mars.
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President Donald Trump established the Artemis program during his first term in 2017 as part of a broader push to return American astronauts to the moon.
Hours before the rocket launch, Trump celebrated the Artemis II mission.
“America is going back to the Moon!” he said. “America doesn’t just compete, we DOMINATE, and the whole World is watching. God bless our incredible Astronauts, God bless NASA, and God bless the Greatest Nation ever to exist, the United States of America!”
House Speaker Mike Johnson also praised the crew and NASA on Wednesday.
“Praying for the safety and success of the Artemis II crew and @NASA as they undertake a mission that will carry humanity farther into space than we have gone in over half a century,” he said. “I had the privilege of hosting these courageous pioneers at the State of the Union earlier this year. Americans are watching proudly as our Golden Age reaches new heights!”
