Artemis II lifts off, carrying humans back toward the moon

The Artemis II mission rocket lifted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday evening, carrying four astronauts on a historic mission to the moon.

Tens of thousands of people hugged on Cocoa Beach Pier and its surrounding sand as the 32-story rocket shot above into the blue sky on its journey toward the moon for the first time since 1972. 

Crowds also jammed the surrounding roads and beaches, reminiscent of the Apollo moonshots in the 1960s and ’70s.  

What is the goal for Artemis II?

The astronauts, three Americans and a Canadian, are set to test the Orion spacecraft or the exploration vehicle that carries astronauts to the moon and back.

The astronauts aboard Artemis II were also launched into space by NASA's new and most powerful rocket yet, the Space Launch System rocket.

Artemis II is the second mission in NASA's Artemis program of moon exploration, with Artemis I having sent an uncrewed Orion to lunar orbit and back in 2022.

Under Artemis, NASA hopes to send astronauts on increasingly difficult missions to explore the moon for scientific discovery and to build on that foundation for the first crewed mission to Mars.

The agency hopes for a proper moon landing near the lunar south pole in 2028. And, if all goes according to plan, the thinking in the community is that could go to Mars in the 2030s or 2040s.

What do we know about the rocket and astronauts?

NASA led the design of the Space Launch System rocket and the Orion capsule and it hired private companies SpaceX and Blue Origin to provide the lunar landers for Artemis missions in the future.

On NASA's Artemis II test flight, astronauts will take the controls of the Orion spacecraft and periodically fly it manually during the flight around the moon and back.

NASA astronauts Christina Koch, Victor Glover and Reid Wiseman and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, landed in Florida from Houston on Friday after a two-week quarantine leading up to liftoff.

What does Germany have to do with Artemis II?

A critical component of the Orion spacecraft's European Service Module (ESM) was built by Airbus in Bremen, Germany, on behalf of the European Space Agency.

Acting as the powerhouse for Artemis moon missions, the ESM provides propulsion, power, thermal control, water, and oxygen, utilizing 33 engines including a repurposed Shuttle orbital maneuvering engine.

How many days will the Artemis II mission last?

The Artemis II test flight is set to last for 10 days. 

It would mark the farthest humans have ever traveled in space, sending them some 252,000 miles (406,000 km).

NASA is also hoping to make sure it stays ahead of the curve, with China hoping to land astronauts on the moon by the end of 2030.

Are astronauts going to land on the moon?

Astronauts aren't going to land on the moon this time.

But on the flight, as we mentioned above, they are expected to test critical life-support systems of the Orion capsule, crew interfaces and communications.

The Artemis II mission ultimately represents the opening shot of NASA's plans for a permanent moon base.

Edited by: Srinivas Mazumdaru, Alex Berry