Nasa has given the green light for the four Artemis II astronauts to leave Earth's orbit and head towards the moon, marking the first crewed lunar flyby in more than 50 years. The mission management team approved a 5-minute 49-second engine burn of the Orion capsule to send the spacecraft on a trajectory towards the moon, scheduled just before 1am BST.
The high-stakes 10-day voyage will see the crew loop around the far side of the moon, becoming the farthest humans from Earth in history. The manoeuvre is a crucial test of Nasa's ambition to land humans on the lunar surface this decade and establish a permanent presence.
After post-launch rest, the crew was woken by mission control and instructed to prepare for engine burns. Mission specialist Christina Koch will become the first woman to fly around the moon. The astronauts—three Americans and one Canadian—launched from Kennedy Space Center on Nasa's most powerful rocket, the Space Launch System, reminiscent of the Apollo era.
The crew has already completed a proximity operations demonstration and photographed Earth from 38,000 nautical miles. Minor issues include a temporary communication problem, a cold cabin, and a blinking fault light on the toilet. Artemis II is expected to break the distance record of 248,655 miles set by Apollo 13, reaching an altitude of 4,000 to 6,000 miles above the moon.
Future missions include Artemis III for docking tests and Artemis IV, set for 2028, aiming to land astronauts on the moon's south pole. Nasa plans to build a lunar base, with China targeting a crewed mission to the same region by 2030.
