WATCH: Details about the historic Artemis II launch

NASA is launching Artemis II, marking the agency's first crewed lunar mission in more than 50 years. The mission represents a critical milestone in NASA's broader effort to establish sustainable human presence on the moon and serves as a stepping stone toward eventual Mars exploration. Artemis II will test the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft with astronauts aboard, validating the hardware and procedures needed for future lunar landings. The mission builds on the success of Artemis I, an uncrewed test flight that demonstrated the system's core capabilities. Success on Artemis II will pave the way for Artemis III, which is designed to land astronauts on the lunar surface.