Four astronauts are in Earth orbit and will soon race toward the moon but first they'll test the craft while relatively close to home.
While orbiting Earth, Artemis II will be 115 miles away at its closest point and about 46,000 miles distant during the furthest segment. The crew is testing life support systems and practicing Orion's manual handling and docking capabilities. This mission, which successfully launched at 6:35 p.m. ET April 1, is the second in a program that will ultimately land astronauts on the moon's surface and construct a base there.
Artemis II is orbiting Earth as of Thursday 2 p.m. ET.
At about 3 hours, 20 minutes into the mission, Artemis separated from the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS).
According to NASA, ICPS' job of propelling Orion was done, so its next purpose was to act as a target for the crew. The crew practiced piloting Orion in manual mode and used the ICPS as a stand in for a spacecraft that Orion would dock to in future missions. The mission was successful, NASA said.
