NASA launched Artemis II on Wednesday evening, sending four astronauts on a 10-day journey around the Moon — the first crewed mission to lunar distance in more than five decades. The liftoff marks a generational milestone in human spaceflight and a key test flight ahead of planned lunar landings later this decade.
The Space Launch System (SLS) rocket lifted off at 6:35 p.m. EDT from Launch Complex 39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, carrying the Orion spacecraft and its crew of four. Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, and Mission Specialist Christina Koch represent NASA, while Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen flies for the Canadian Space Agency. The mission is the first crewed flight of both the SLS rocket and the Orion spacecraft. Victor Glover becomes the first person of color, Christina Koch the first woman, and Jeremy Hansen the first non-US citizen on a NASA mission to travel beyond low Earth orbit.
Artemis II is designed as a test flight, not a lunar landing. Its primary objective is to evaluate the Orion spacecraft's life support systems, communications, and crew operations in deep space conditions with a full crew for the first time. The mission profile includes an initial high Earth orbit phase during which the crew will conduct systems checks and a proximity operations demonstration using the separated upper stage as a target vehicle. A trans-lunar injection burn will then send the spacecraft toward the Moon on a free-return trajectory.
The crew is expected to reach the vicinity of the Moon on day six of the mission, flying within approximately 4,000 to 6,000 miles of the lunar far side. At maximum distance, Orion is projected to travel more than 248,000 miles from Earth — a record for human spaceflight, surpassing the mark set by the crippled Apollo 13 spacecraft in 1970. Unlike the Apollo missions, which involved lunar orbit or landing, Artemis II will not enter lunar orbit. Instead, the Moon's gravity will slingshot the spacecraft back toward Earth on a free-return trajectory.
The roughly 10-day mission is expected to conclude with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. Data collected during the flight will be used to evaluate system readiness for future Artemis missions, including the first crewed lunar landing planned for 2028. NASA has framed Artemis II as the foundation for a long-term human presence on the Moon, in contrast to the Apollo program's short-duration surface missions.
International participation is a structural feature of the Artemis program. Hansen's inclusion reflects Canada's role as a partner nation, making Canada only the second country to send an astronaut on a lunar mission. The European Space Agency contributed the Orion service module, which provides propulsion, power, and life support consumables for the crew.
The Artemis program builds on the uncrewed Artemis I mission in 2022, which flew the same free-return trajectory without a crew. All major systems were reported nominal at the time of launch, with Orion's four solar array wings confirmed deployed and generating power following orbital insertion.
At the time of launch, the mission had cleared all major technical constraints. NASA reported no standing issues as the spacecraft entered its initial orbital phase, with Mission Control in Houston confirming nominal cabin pressure, power, and communications. The coming days will determine how the crew and spacecraft perform in deep space conditions ahead of the next phase of the Artemis program.
Muskan Zahra
