Four astronauts lifted off from Kennedy Space Center this evening, beginning a 10-day journey that will take them farther from Earth than any humans have traveled before. The 6:24 p.m. EDT launch of NASA’s Artemis II mission, the first crewed flight toward the moon since Apollo 17 more than five decades ago, carried Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen aboard the agency’s Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft.
Weather conditions cooperated. The 45th Weather Squadron had placed the probability of acceptable conditions at 80%, with a two-hour launch window offering additional flexibility.
The crew and their records
The four astronauts aboard Artemis II bring a set of distinctions that NASA has not seen before on a lunar mission. Koch becomes the first woman assigned to fly toward the moon. Glover becomes the first Black astronaut assigned to a lunar mission. Hansen becomes the first Canadian astronaut to travel in the direction of the moon. Wiseman serves as mission commander.
During the mission, the crew is expected to reach a maximum distance of roughly 250,000 miles from Earth, surpassing the record currently held by the Apollo 13 crew. Orion will swing thousands of miles beyond the far side of the moon before returning home.
What this mission is and is not
Artemis II is not a lunar landing. It is a test flight, and that distinction matters enormously to what NASA hopes to learn from it.
After launch, Orion will spend approximately one day in high Earth orbit, during which the crew will run through a maneuvering and operations demonstration. From there, the spacecraft will head toward the moon on what is known as a free-return trajectory, a path that loops the crew around the far side and naturally brings them back toward Earth without requiring a powered return burn.
The moon flyby itself will last only a few hours. The entire mission is expected to conclude with a Pacific Ocean splashdown about 10 days after launch.
The primary goal is to verify that Orion’s life support systems, propulsion, power and communications hardware all perform as designed in the actual environment of deep space, something no simulation on the ground can fully replicate. This flight is the first time NASA’s Space Launch System has carried astronauts.
What came before
Artemis II follows Artemis I, an uncrewed Orion test flight that orbited the moon in late 2022 and returned safely. That mission validated the rocket and spacecraft’s basic performance. This one raises the stakes considerably because people are aboard.
The Artemis program has faced significant headwinds over the years. Development of the Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft together has cost more than $44 billion, drawing sustained criticism from budget watchdogs and members of Congress. Launch delays pushed the crewed mission later than originally planned. Earlier this year, hydrogen leak problems during fueling operations forced additional postponements before Today’s attempt finally came together cleanly.
NASA teams reported no hydrogen leaks during Today’s fueling operations, clearing one of the most closely watched milestones of launch day.
Ohio’s connection to the mission
More than 80 engineers and scientists at NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland contributed to Artemis II, with much of their work tied to Orion’s European Service Module, the section of the spacecraft responsible for propulsion, electrical power, and the air and water systems that keep the crew alive. That work took on added importance for this mission because, unlike Artemis I, someone is actually breathing that air.
Glenn teams also supported testing related to the crew module and launch abort system, with some work conducted at the Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Sandusky.
What comes next
NASA and the current administration have signaled that Artemis II is the foundation for what follows. A crewed lunar landing near the moon’s south pole is targeted for 2028, where ice deposits in permanently shadowed craters could eventually support a sustained human presence. Longer term, the Artemis program is positioned as preparation for eventual human missions to Mars.
For now, the milestone is simply getting four people safely around the moon and back, something that has not happened in 53 years.
