Nasa has given the four astronauts of the Artemis II mission the green light to leave Earth's orbit and head for the moon, setting up the first crewed lunar flyby in more than 50 years. The decision came shortly before a scheduled 5-minute-49-second engine burn of their Orion capsule, which was due to take place just before 1am BST.
Mission control confirmed the 'go' for the translunar injection burn, a manoeuvre that will send the spacecraft on a three-day journey towards the moon. The crew, comprising three Americans and one Canadian, had been woken after about three and a half hours of post-launch rest and instructed to prepare for the engine firing. Christina Koch, the mission specialist who will become the first woman to fly around the moon, received the confirmation from Houston.
The crew launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday in front of tens of thousands of spectators, aboard Nasa's most powerful rocket, the Space Launch System. The mission marks the first time humans will travel to the vicinity of the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972, and is a crucial test of Nasa's ambition to land astronauts on the lunar surface later this decade.
During the early stages of the flight, the crew reported minor issues including a temporary communication problem, a slightly cold cabin, and a blinking fault light on the onboard toilet. They also completed a proximity operations demonstration, manually manoeuvring the capsule to assess how it would handle docking with other spacecraft on future missions. Commander Reid Wiseman described the view of Earth from about 38,000 nautical miles as spectacular.
Artemis II is expected to break the record for the farthest distance travelled from Earth, currently held by Apollo 13 at 248,655 miles. The capsule will fly at an altitude of between 4,000 and 6,000 miles above the moon, higher than any previous crewed mission, giving the astronauts a wider view of the far side and allowing a gravity-powered return to Earth even if the engines fail.
Future missions will build on this test: Artemis III will conduct further docking tests in Earth's orbit, while Artemis IV, targeted for 2028, aims to land astronauts on the moon's south pole. Nasa has also outlined plans for a permanent lunar base, saying the Artemis missions will bring humanity closer to living on the moon and Mars. China, meanwhile, has announced a crewed mission to the same lunar region as early as 2030.
