The Artemis II crew launched into history on 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 five decades. Astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch of the United States, along with Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency, boarded the 322-foot Orion spacecraft at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39B in the afternoon, just hours before liftoff at 6:35 p.m. The mission is expected to travel around the moon and back, marking the first crewed venture beyond low Earth orbit since 1972. Although Artemis II 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.
NASA describes the Orion spacecraft as the most powerful launch system 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. With the crew now in space, they are expected to spend several days aboard, including a multi-day journey around the far side of the moon before returning to Earth for a planned splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.
NASA has laid out ambitious plans for future missions, including additional lunar exploration in the coming years. Artemis II follows the uncrewed Artemis I test flight and is a major step toward missions such as Artemis III, which will involve testing with a lander from SpaceX, Blue Origin, or both, while in Earth’s orbit. Although Artemis III originally aimed to land on the moon, the focus has shifted toward Artemis IV for a landing, with the broader program designed to support long-term lunar exploration and pave the way for human missions to Mars.
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, saying, “America is going back to the Moon! 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, offering prayers for the crew’s safety as they pursued this historic milestone.
