NASA launched four astronauts toward the Moon aboard Artemis II, beginning the first crewed lunar voyage since Apollo 17 in 1972. The Space Launch System lifted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 6:35 p.m. EDT, placing the Orion spacecraft and its crew into Earth orbit at the start of a planned 10-day mission.
Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover and mission specialist Christina Koch represent NASA. Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen serves as the second mission specialist. Hansen is making his first spaceflight and is set to become the first Canadian to travel into deep space. The flight also marks the first time a woman, a Black astronaut and a non-American have traveled toward the Moon.
Artemis II is a flyby rather than a landing mission. Orion follows a free-return path around the far side of the Moon, using lunar gravity to guide the spacecraft back toward Earth. The trajectory is expected to carry the crew farther from Earth than any humans have traveled, exceeding the distance record established by Apollo 13 in 1970.
The launch is the first time astronauts have flown on either SLS or Orion. An uncrewed Artemis I test reached lunar orbit in 2022. About two minutes after liftoff, the two solid rocket boosters separated, while the core stage’s four RS-25 engines continued the ascent. Orion reached orbit roughly eight minutes after launch. The mission later completed the critical trans-lunar injection burn needed to leave Earth orbit and begin the outward leg.
The crew’s work is centered on testing Orion as a human spacecraft beyond low Earth orbit. Early tasks included checks of life support and other basic systems, exercise and a manual-flight demonstration using the SLS upper stage as a rendezvous target. The astronauts also prepared observations of lunar features for the period when communications through NASA’s Deep Space Network would be unavailable behind the Moon.
The evidence reports minor problems, including a malfunctioning toilet that Koch repaired and an issue with email, while engine firings through the first two days ran as planned. Those inconveniences did not alter the flight’s lunar trajectory.
Artemis II is intended to establish whether SLS and Orion can safely carry crews into deep space before more complex Artemis missions. No one will enter lunar orbit or touch down on this flight. Its central test is the complete crewed journey: departure from Earth, a loop around the Moon and a safe return. Each stage supplies evidence for later crewed flights.
