CAPE CANAVERAL, United States — NASA launched four astronauts toward the moon Wednesday for the first time in more than half a century, sending the Artemis II crew skyward aboard a 32-story rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida as tens of thousands watched from the ground below.
The mission carries three Americans and one Canadian on a flight around the moon and back, lasting less than 10 days. The crew, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen, will travel several thousand miles beyond the moon before turning back. There will be no landing and no moonwalk on this mission — Artemis II is a proving flight, NASA’s first crewed step in a program aimed at putting boots back on the lunar surface within two years.
The launch drew massive crowds to Kennedy Space Center and the surrounding roads and beaches, scenes reminiscent of the Apollo missions of the 1960s and 1970s. It is the first human lunar voyage since Apollo 17 in December 1972.
NASA has positioned Artemis as the foundation of a permanent human presence on and around the moon, with Wednesday’s launch marking the program’s biggest milestone yet.
Photos courtesy Associated Press.
