NASA’s Artemis II Launches On Mission To The Moon

The four astronauts aboard the spacecraft are Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen.

NASA launched its Artemis II mission Wednesday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The four astronauts aboard NASA’s Orion spacecraft are Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen.

The crew is expected to travel around the moon and back, marking the first crewed journey beyond low-Earth orbit in over 50 years.

Although the mission will not land on the lunar surface, it is designed to carry the crew farther from Earth than any crewed mission since the Apollo era.

The astronauts are expected to embark on a multi-day journey around the far side of the moon before returning to Earth for a planned splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.

The mission was initially slated to launch in February but there were issues that caused delays. Now, the mission is officially underway.