With an intense roar that reverberated far beyond the launchpad, the enormous orange-and-white rocket carried three Americans and one Canadian away from Florida's Kennedy Space Center at approximately 6:35 pm local time.
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By Georgia Rowe
The Artemis II crew have officially set off in a historic 10-day mission around the Moon – which could take them further from Earth than anyone has ever been before.
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NASA has launched Artemis II, its first crewed Moon mission in over 50 years, from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Following the unmanned Artemis I mission in 2022, the programme is paving the way for future deep-space missions, with Mars in sight for the 2030s.
The spacecraft is now orbiting Earth after a successful launch, despite last-minute delays caused by issues with the rocket’s flight termination system (FTS), including a battery temperature problem detected an hour before liftoff.
Commander Reid Wiseman called it “a great day” for the team as he joined astronauts Christina Koch, Victor Glover and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen aboard the 322-foot rocket.
(L/R) Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, Artemis II mission specialist, NASA astronauts Victor Glover, Artemis II pilot, Reid Wiseman, Artemis II commander, and Christina Koch, Artemis II mission specialist.
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The Artemis II crewed lunar mission launches at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
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People gather to watch Artemis II launch party at Gerstein Science Information Centre at University of Toronto on April 1.
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The 10-day mission will travel around the moon and back in a 600,000-mile trip.
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People observe the launch of Artemis II from the A. Max Brewer Bridge in Titusville, Florida on April 01, 2026 in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
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"We're going to the Moon!" yelled a spectator.
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A NASA Space Launch System (SLS) with the Orion spacecraft carrying the Artemis II astronauts lifts off from Launch Complex 39B (LC-39B) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center.
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The astronauts will fly 230,000 miles out into space, the farthest any human has ever travelled from Earth.
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