Artemis II Has Launched. Here's Everything You Need to Know About This Mission to the Moon

NASA's Space Launch System rocket lifted off from Kennedy Space Center at 6:35 p.m. ET today, carrying the four-person Artemis II crew—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen—on a 10-day journey around the lunar far side. The mission will take the crew farther from Earth than any human has ever traveled, passing within 4,700 miles of the moon's surface on day six before returning to Earth on April 10. Unlike the Apollo program, Artemis II will not land on the moon but serves as a test flight of the Orion spacecraft to prepare for actual lunar landings planned for 2028 and beyond as part of NASA's effort to establish a long-term moon base at the south lunar pole. The Artemis program involves 60 countries under the Artemis Accords and stands in competition with China, which has announced plans to land astronauts on the moon by 2030.