NASA's Artemis II mission lifted off successfully from Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 6:35 p.m. EDT (22:35 UTC) on Wednesday, carrying four experienced astronauts—Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Hammock Koch, and Canadian Jeremy Hansen—aboard the first crewed Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft. The nine-day voyage will loop around the far side of the Moon, testing critical systems like manual navigation, life support, and communications for future lunar landings, marking the farthest human spaceflight since Apollo 17 in 1972.
The 322-foot-tall SLS rocketed from Launch Complex 39B under 80% favorable weather following a last-minute communication system adjustment. Its four RS-25 engines and two solid rocket boosters produced 8.8 million pounds of thrust—exceeding the Saturn V—propelling Orion skyward. Spectators felt the sonic boom as the rocket passed the speed of sound one minute in; boosters separated after two minutes at 150,000 feet, core stage after eight minutes, and the upper stage's RL10 engine placed Orion in low-Earth orbit.
Nearly 3.5 hours post-launch, pilot Glover manually flew Orion to re-approach the upper stage within 30 feet, demonstrating handling in six degrees of freedom, with Hansen providing visual ranging. Key objectives include high-speed laser communications and life support validation (oxygen, temperature). The crew, all with prior spaceflight experience including ISS missions and records, follows the uncrewed Artemis I and precedes Artemis III in 2027 targeting the lunar South Pole with the first woman and person of color.
The trajectory will reach 252,799 miles from Earth on April 6 before a free-return splashdown off California on April 10. NASA's Artemis program, with nearly $100 billion invested, aims for sustained lunar presence amid competition with China and preparation for Mars.
