Four astronauts have finally blasted off to the Moon kickstarting the historic Artemis II Moon mission. The Space Launch System (SLS) rocket lifted off in the early hours of April 2 at 4:05 am IST from the Kennedy Space Center, putting an end to years of delay. This was the second time this 322-feet-tall vehicle roared to life since Artemis I, the uncrewed mission from 2022.
Flying aboard the Orion spacecraft are NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman (commander), Victor Glover (pilot) and Christina Koch (specialist) and Canadian Space Agency’s Jeremy Hansen (specialist) who will perform a flyby of the Moon and return in approximately 10 days.
Liftoff.
The Artemis II mission launched from @NASAKennedy at 6:35pm ET (2235 UTC), propelling four astronauts on a journey around the Moon.
Artemis II will pave the way for future Moon landings, as well as the next giant leap — astronauts on Mars. pic.twitter.com/ENQA4RTqAc
— NASA (@NASA) April 1, 2026
This mission involves neither orbiting nor landing on the Moon as the primary objective here is to validate life support systems of the Orion spacecraft in deep space environment. The astronauts will also conduct several experiments focused on human health and space radiation.
NASA’s journey to the Moon
Orion is currently under Earth’s influence and it will soon achieve an elliptical orbit of approximately 44,525 x 185 km for critical system checkouts before slinging to the Moon. Here the crew will undergo a manual piloting test called the proximity operations demonstration wherein the astronauts will transition the spacecraft to manual mode.
The astronauts will then hand over the control back to mission controllers and get busy with verifying spacecraft system performance including that of the of the life support systems.
While in Earth orbit, the crew will also test the communication and navigation systems to confirm they are ready for the trip. If all goes well, these operations will take at least one day for completion. These procedures in a high orbit is necessary to give the crew time to confirm all systems are functioning nominally before committing to the lunar journey.
Once the checkout procedures are complete, Orion will perform a translunar injection burn, wherein it’s service module will propel it to an outbound trip around the far side of the Moon. The journey will take approximately four days.
Records are meant to be broken
Artemis II is setting records right from the start and several more will be broken by the time the mission ends. Koch is the first woman to fly on a lunar mission whereas Glover is now the first person of colour to launch to the Moon. Hansen, a Canadian national, on the other hand, is the first non-US citizen who will fly farther than any other crewed mission in history, that too on a lunar flight.
The Artemis II crew is boarding Orion.
Reid, Victor, Christina, and Jeremy are taking their seats atop the most powerful manned rocket ever built. They have trained for years for this moment, and now they are preparing to execute a mission that will take us back around the Moon… pic.twitter.com/kzwwdGSaAe
— NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman (@NASAAdmin) April 1, 2026
Orion will take the crew approximately 7,403 kilometres beyond the far side of the Moon, breaking the record for the longest distance travelled by humans set during Apollo 13 in 1970 (about 4,00,171 km). Wiseman and team will also be the first humans to see the far side of the Moon in person and will take photographs and provide observations of the Moon’s surface during the multi-hour flyby. At the time of the flyby, NASA says, the region will be partially illuminated, offering an enhanced view of surface ridges, slopes and crater rims that are often difficult to detect under full illumination.
Artemis II has launched 53 years after the last lunar mission Apollo 17 – which took off in December 1972. With a crew of four, this is the most number of astronauts who will travel so far from home at once.
One might even compare this to the Apollo 8 mission of 1968 that was the world’s first crewed flight to leave Earth orbit and later set the stage for the first Moon landing in 1969. Artemis II has similar responsibilities i.e. to validate technologies incorporated in the Orion spacecraft that will take American astronauts back to the Moon during Artemis IV possibly in 2028.
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