Four Astronauts Now Journeying Toward the Moon on NASA Artemis II, First Crewed Lunar Mission Since 1972

Humanity is returning to the Moon. Four astronauts launched Wednesday evening from Kennedy Space Center aboard NASA’s Artemis II mission. The 10-day flight is the first crewed journey toward the Moon in over 50 years and paves the way for future lunar landings.

Victor Glover became the first Black astronaut to travel beyond low Earth orbit. Christina Koch became the first woman to make the journey. Jeremy Hansen became the first non-American citizen to fly to the vicinity of the Moon. Each milestone has been years in the making and reflects both the diversity goals embedded in NASA’s Artemis program and the collaborative international character of modern space exploration.

In a striking early-mission moment that captured the wonder of the voyage, Glover manually piloted Orion through proximity operations, maneuvering around the rocket’s upper stage while thousands of miles above Earth. “I see it. Look at that, woohoo! I see the ICPS and the moon in the field of view,” he told mission control as the crew conducted the tests that will eventually prove Orion’s ability to interface with a future lunar lander.

The crew is expected to exceed the record for the farthest distance any human has traveled from Earth, flying approximately 4,700 miles beyond the Moon’s surface, surpassing the distance reached by the Apollo 13 crew in 1970. They will spend approximately one day observing the Moon’s far side at close range before the free-return trajectory curves them back toward Earth.

NASA has been explicit that Artemis II is a test flight, not a landing mission. Its job is to validate every critical system on the Orion spacecraft under real deep-space conditions before humans attempt to set foot on the Moon again with Artemis III. Those plans, however, suffered a setback this month when NASA announced the cancellation of the Lunar Gateway program, a planned space station in lunar orbit, forcing mission planners to redesign elements of the Artemis III approach.

For a nation consumed by war, political battles, and economic uncertainty, the launch provided a rare moment of shared national pride. Millions watched the broadcast online and at watch events across the country, as the SLS rocket cleared the launch tower and began humanity’s return to deep space.