Rewatch the historic launch of Artemis II as moon mission begins

Wednesday marked a historic day at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida as Artemis II began its incredible mission to the moon.

The launch went off just after 6:30 p.m. Eastern time, with the spacecraft heading into a high elliptical orbit around Earth as final checks are done before it begins its journey to the moon.

If you missed the launch, you can see it here:

NASA’s long-awaited Artemis II mission launched four astronauts on a planned 10-day journey around the moon today.

Artemis II is the first manned mission to the moon since Apollo 17 landed on the lunar surface in 1972.

The plan for the spacecraft is to flight around the moon, approximately 4,000 nautical miles above its surface, before using Earth’s gravity to head back toward the planet after the test run, which is designed as a precursor to Artemis III, which is scheduled to land on the moon’s surface.

The spacecraft’s journey will take several days, with the total time of the trip spanning 10 days and nearly 700,000 miles through space, according to NASA.

During that journey, a series of burns will be conducted to ensure that the spacecraft is on the proper path toward the moon, and various life-support systems and other technology will be tested in order for the Artemis III craft to launch, ideally as soon as 2027.

More information on the Artemis program can be found on NASA’s website.