And we have liftoff! The Artemis II rocket has roared into space, carrying NASA's first crewed mission to the Moon in over half a century.
The four-person crew – commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialist Christina Koch from NASA, and Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) – lifted off at 6:35pm local time (11:35pm in the UK) from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Watch the moment Artemis II launched into space
Their 10-day journey will take them around the far side of the Moon and back. While they won't touch down on the lunar surface this time, the mission is a critical dress rehearsal, testing the Orion spacecraft and its life support systems under real deep-space conditions. If all goes to plan, Artemis III will follow. Artemis IV, the subsequent mission, aims to land two astronauts on the Moon as soon as 2028.
The voyage will unfold in several carefully planned stages. On day one, the crew will test how Orion handles in space. Day two brings the vital 'translunar injection burn' – the major engine firing that sends Orion on its path toward the Moon.
