Artemis II blasted into the Florida sky Wednesday night with a thunderous roar to mark the start of America’s first lunar mission in more than 50 years.
NASA said an issue emerged about an hour before the 10-day mission’s scheduled launch that could have scrubbed the launch, according to Fox News. The issue was fixed using Space Shuttle-era equipment. Launch took place at 6:35 p.m. Eastern Time.
As NBC News noted, shortly before liftoff, pilot Victor Glover said, “We are going for our families.” NASA astronaut Christina Koch said, “We are going for our teammates.” Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen said, “We are going for all humanity.”
Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, the NASA Artemis II launch director, said as liftoff neared, “You take with you the heart of this Artemis team, the daring spirit of the American people and our partners across the globe, and the hopes and dreams of this generation. Good luck. Godspeed, Artemis II. Let’s go,” according to The New York Times.
BREAKING: Artemis II begins liftoff the first human expedition to the Moon since 1972. pic.twitter.com/X69CmEJU9e
— Daxs (@DavidWariboko) April 1, 2026
Before the launch, President Donald Trump noted on Truth Social that “for the first time in over 50 YEARS, America is going back to the Moon! Artemis II, among the most powerful rockets ever built, is launching our Brave Astronauts farther into Deep Space than any human has EVER gone.
“We are WINNING, in Space, on Earth, and everywhere in between — Economically, Militarily, and now, BEYOND THE STARS,” Trump wrote.
“Nobody comes close! America doesn’t just compete, we DOMINATE, and the whole World is watching. God bless our incredible Astronauts, God bless NASA, and God bless the Greatest Nation ever to exist, the United States of America!” Trump wrote.
Trump planned to monitor the launch from the White House, according to the Associated Press.
“President Trump is excited about the next phase with the historic upcoming Artemis II launch,” White House representative Liz Huston said.
“This effort will strengthen American leadership in space, usher in scientific discoveries, and serve as the proving ground for missions to Mars,” she said.
Artemis II carries NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, according to Fox News.
The flight is a test of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft, according to NASA, and is considered a step along the way to increasing NASA’s capacity for deep space exploration that will include a crewed mission to Mars.
“The four of us, we are ready to go. The team is ready to go. The vehicle is ready to go,” Wiseman said Sunday at a media briefing, according to NBC News.
“We’ve always looked at the moon and said, ‘We’ve been there.’ But for this whole generation, for our generation, for the younger generation, for the Artemis generation, they’re going to look at the moon now and go, ‘We are there,’” he said.
This mission is paving the way for the Artemis III mission in 2027.
We’re going around the Moon. Come watch with us. Artemis II’s four-astronaut crew is lifting off from @NASAKennedy on an approximately 10-day mission that will bring us closer to living on the Moon and Mars. The launch window opens at 6:24pm ET (2224 UTC). https://t.co/X27QJejNDt
— NASA (@NASA) April 1, 2026
That mission will only go as far as a low-Earth orbit and will test how a moon lander can dock with the Orion capsule.
In 2028, the Artemis IV mission is scheduled to land astronauts on the moon, using a moon lander to orbit the moon and then land on the surface of the moon.
As noted by CNN, the Artemis II mission will send astronauts farther from Earth than any other mission.
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