NASA’s Artemis II flight successfully launched on Wednesday evening, carrying four astronauts toward the Moon for the first time in over 50 years.
The mission aims to place astronauts in lunar orbit, marking the first such journey since 1972. Artemis II is part of NASA’s broader Artemis program, which seeks to return humans to the Moon as early as 2028.
This marks the first crewed flight of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. Astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian Jeremy Hansen will travel aboard the Orion crew capsule. The mission is expected to last 10 days.
The launch follows a delay in February due to a helium supply issue. NASA has also adjusted its timeline for Moon landings, shifting the planned 2027 Artemis III mission from a Moon landing to a test flight. The next planned lunar landing attempt is the Artemis IV mission, scheduled for 2028.
The last Moon landing occurred during the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. The uncrewed Artemis I mission, which launched the Orion capsule around the Moon, took place in 2022.
