Overview
- NASA’s Space Launch System lifted off Wednesday at 6:35 p.m. ET from Kennedy Space Center, starting a roughly 10‑day free‑return flight that will swing around the Moon without landing.
- Orion reached orbit and deployed its solar arrays, and the crew will spend about 24 hours in a high Earth orbit to check life support, communications, and maneuvering before the translunar injection burn.
- A late countdown concern with the flight termination safety system, along with minor sensor readings, was resolved on the pad and did not delay liftoff.
- The trajectory will carry the crew to a flyby about 4,000 to 5,000 miles above the lunar surface and to a record distance of roughly 252,799 miles from Earth before heading home.
- The free‑return path uses the Moon’s gravity to steer Orion back toward Earth without extra engine burns, with a Pacific splashdown targeted for April 10 as the crew tests systems and wears devices that track sleep, stress, and radiation exposure.