Overview
- NASA's Space Launch System lifted off from Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday evening Eastern Time, sending four U.S. and Canadian astronauts in Orion on a roughly 10‑day lunar flyby that marks the first crewed trip toward the moon in about 53 years.
- The mission will not land on the surface, with Orion targeting the moon’s far side about six days into the flight and aiming to edge past the Apollo 13 distance mark near 400,000 kilometers before a planned Pacific splashdown on April 11.
- Orion separated about three and a half hours after launch and is flying in Earth orbit ahead of the engine burn that will send it on a path to the moon.
- NASA reported a brief voice communications dropout 51 minutes after liftoff and a toilet system fault indication, both resolved, and the agency said the crew is safe and in good condition.
- This flight is designed to verify spacecraft performance for a 2027 docking test with a lunar lander and to build on 2022’s uncrewed Artemis I, which proved the SLS rocket and Orion capsule around the moon.