Humans are heading to the moon for the first time in 53 years after NASA successfully launched four astronauts on its SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft on Wednesday.
Generating a colossal 8.8 million pounds of thrust as it left the launchpad, the rocket blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to begin the 10-day Artemis II mission that will take crew members Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen around the moon and back to Earth. Watch the video below to see the rocket roaring away from the Space Coast at 6:35 p.m. ET.
You can also watch SLS rocket’s two side boosters detach from the core stage several minutes after launch after helping to lift the vehicle and the crew to space.
At the start of their epic voyage, the astronauts will spend about 24 hours checking the spacecraft’s systems in a high Earth orbit. If everything is functioning as it should, the Orion will then be put on a trajectory to take it toward the moon.
During the 10-day trip, the astronauts will continue to evaluate the spacecraft’s systems while also practicing emergency procedures, such as testing the radiation shelter, a temporary protected area inside the Orion that astronauts create inside the capsule if radiation levels spike after something like a solar storm or a spacecraft issue.
The Artemis II crew will fly about 4,600 miles beyond the moon, becoming the first humans to view the lunar far side in more than 50 years.
A successful mission will pave the way for Artemis III, which will test Orion’s ability to rendezvous and dock with a commercial lunar lander in Earth orbit. Following that, Artemis IV will carry out a crewed lunar landing, with NASA currently targeting early 2028 for the highly anticipated endeavor.