Artemis II lifts off: NASA launches first crewed lunar mission in half a century

NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) launched four astronauts on world's first crewed lunar mission from Florida on Wednesday.

NASA's Artemis II mission is a high stakes voyage around the moon that marks United States' boldest step yet toward returning humans to the lunar ⁠surface later this decade in a race with China.

The Armetis II test flight is the first ever mission with crew on board the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orian spacecraft.

The four astronauts are on a mission of 10 days, which is the first crewed Moon mission in over 50 years.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said the launch was an opening act for subsequent missions that would include construction of a moon base to support the "enduring presence we're trying to create on the surface."

The crew consists of NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, plus Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen.

If the mission succeeds, they will fly around the moon and back in their nearly 10-day expedition, putting the spacecraft through its paces while venturing deeper into space than humans have ever gone.

NASA is targeting 2028 for Artemis IV, a first-ever landing of astronauts on the moon's South Pole, seeking to beat China's planned crewed mission to the same lunar region as ⁠early as 2030.

After nearly three years of training, the crew is the first to fly in NASA's Artemis program, a multibillion-dollar venture established in ‌2017 to build up a long-term US presence on the moon over the next decade and beyond, serving as a stepping stone to eventual missions to Mars.

Minutes before liftoff, Canadian astronaut Hansen, strapped inside Orion, told ⁠mission control in Houston: "This is Jeremy, we are going for all humanity."

Launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson said: "Reid, Victor, Christina and Jeremy, on this historic mission 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 a new generation."

"Good luck, godspeed, Artemis II. Let’s go," she added.

Wednesday's ‌liftoff was a major milestone more than a decade in the making for the US space agency's SLS rocket, handing its principal contractors Boeing ‌and Northrop Grumman long-sought validation that the launch system was ready to safely loft humans into space. NASA has increasingly relied on newer, cheaper rockets from Elon ‌Musk's SpaceX and others to send astronauts to low-Earth orbit.

The Artemis II mission will send its four-person crew some 252,000 miles (406,000 km) into space - the farthest humans have ever traveled.

The current record for the farthest spaceflight at roughly 248,000 miles is held by the three-man crew of the Apollo 13 lunar mission in 1970, which was beset by technical problems after an oxygen tank exploded and was unable to land on the moon as planned.

Here is all you need to know about the crew:

Reid Wiseman, Commander: Reid Wiseman is the commander in Artemis II mission. He was selected as NASA astronaut in 2009. Previously, he commanded the NEEMO21 mission in 2016.

Victor Glover, Pilot: Victor Glover has previously served as the pilot of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1 mission to the International Space Station IN 2020. He was selected as a NASA astronaut in 2013.

Christina Koch, Mission Specialist: Christina Koch will be the Mission Specialist in Artemis II mission. She was selected as the NASA astronaut in 2013. She has served a a flight engineer onboard theInternational Space Station as part of Expedition 59, 60, and 61. Koch has set a record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman with a total of 328 days in space.

Jeremy Hansen, Mission Specialist: Jeremy Hansen has a background as a fighter pilot. He became the first Canadian to be entrusted with leading a NASA astronaut class.

(With Reuters inputs)