For the first time in over 50 years, astronauts from Earth have launched to the moon. NASA's most powerful rocket, the Space Launch System, lit up the evening sky over Florida's Space Coast (April 1) in a stunning liftoff to send four astronauts on a 10-day voyage around the moon.
The historic Artemis 2 mission launched at 6:35 p.m. EDT (2235 GMT) from NASA's Kennedy Space Center, beginning the first astronaut voyage to the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972
Aboard their Orion spacecraft, the four Artemis 2 astronauts will perform a lunar flyby. And, while they won't be orbiting or landing on the moon, the mission marks a watershed moment for NASA's renewed effort to extend humanity's reach beyond low Earth orbit.
