NASA’s Artemis II flight successfully launched on Wednesday evening, marking the first crewed mission toward the Moon in over 50 years.
The mission aims to place four astronauts into lunar orbit, a significant step in NASA’s Artemis program, which plans to return humans to the Moon by 2028. This flight represents the first crewed launch of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and will last approximately 10 days.
On board the Orion crew capsule are astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian Jeremy Hansen. This historic mission follows the uncrewed Artemis I flight in 2022, which successfully demonstrated the capabilities of the SLS and Orion vehicles.
The Artemis II mission faced a delay in February due to a helium supply issue. NASA has also revised its timeline for lunar landings. The previously scheduled Artemis III mission for 2027 has shifted from a landing to a test flight. The Artemis IV mission, now set for 2028, will be the next attempt to land humans on the lunar surface.
The last Moon landing by NASA occurred during the Apollo 17 mission in 1972.
