NASA’s Artemis 2 mission successfully lifted off from Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday, marking the first manned voyage to the moon in more than 50 years since Apollo 17.
The mission, using the powerful Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the Orion spacecraft, will see four astronauts orbit the moon and return safely to Earth without landing.Footage captured aboard a commercial airliner shows a unique perspective of its launch from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The video, which has now gone viral on social media, shows the Artemis II rover soaring towards the sky, beginning its historic journey around the moon.
The crew on board includes Reed Weisman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen. Over the course of a 10-day mission, they will conduct critical tests to ensure that the spacecraft’s systems are fully functional and safe for human travel. Among the main goals are manual docking simulations and other operational checks, paving the way for future lunar missions.Artemis II is also making history by carrying the first woman and first person of color into cislunar space — the area between the Earth and the Moon.
The mission follows the success of NASA’s Artemis 1 unmanned test flight in 2022, and will demonstrate a range of capabilities needed for deep space exploration. Artemis II marks the first human mission aboard an SLS rocket and the Orion spacecraft, paving the way for the agency’s ambitious plans to explore the moon.