NASA launches Artemis II mission, first crewed journey in over 50 years

NASA on Wednesday launched the historic Artemis II mission from Kennedy Space Center, sending four astronauts on the first crewed journey beyond low-Earth orbit in more than 50 years.

The 32-storey Space Launch System lifted off from Florida carrying NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen.

The nearly 10-day mission is a major step in NASA’s plan to return humans to the moon and eventually send astronauts to Mars.

Minutes after liftoff, Wiseman reported from the capsule, "We have a beautiful moonrise, we’re headed right at it."

The launch came after NASA resolved several technical concerns during the countdown. Earlier tests had been delayed by a hydrogen fuel leak, but this time, engineers successfully loaded more than 700,000 gallons of fuel into the rocket without major problems.

NASA also fixed an issue involving the rocket’s flight-termination system and addressed abnormal temperature readings in a battery inside the Orion spacecraft’s launch-abort system.

The crew will spend the next two days in Earth orbit testing Orion’s systems before firing the spacecraft toward the moon. Orion will then fly behind the moon before returning to Earth and splashing down in the Pacific Ocean.