Overview
- NASA launched Artemis II on Wednesday from Cape Canaveral for the first crewed trip toward the Moon since 1972.
- The Orion spacecraft, named Integrity, carries Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
- The capsule is on a free‑return path for a lunar flyby in about six days at a closest approach near 8,000 kilometers.
- The crew will validate life‑support and other systems beyond low Earth orbit, and a Pacific Ocean splashdown is planned about 10 days after liftoff.
- NASA presents the flight as a gate to a crewed lunar landing targeted no later than 2028 under the Artemis program, which outside reports put at about $93 billion.