(NEXSTAR) – Cheers erupted Wednesday at Kennedy Space Center in Florida after NASA’s long-awaited Artemis II launched into the sky, embarking on its historic mission to the moon.
The expedition is humanity’s first trip to the moon in more than half a century.
NASA’s launch team loaded more than 700,000 gallons of fuel into the 32-story Space Launch System rocket early Wednesday, setting the stage for blast off in the evening, with a two-hour launch window that began at 6:24 p.m. EDT at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Despite a few initial hiccups, the four astronauts successfully lifted off and reached orbit.
Five minutes into humanity’s first flight to the moon in 53 years, Commander Reid Wiseman saw the team’s target: “We have a beautiful moonrise, we’re headed right at it,” he said from the capsule.
Roughly an hour before the window opened, however, NASA’s Derrol Nail reported that one of two batteries in the abort system was not displaying the proper temperature. NASA looked into the battery issue, but opted not to scratch the launch countdown, concluding that it was an instrumentation issue that wouldn’t affect the launch.
NASA’s Artemis II moon rocket sits on the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center as the countdown clock continues to run Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O’Meara)
Photographers set up remote cameras near NASA’s Artemis II moon rocket on Launch Pad 39-B just before sunrise at the Kennedy Space Center Tuesday, March 31, 2026, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O’Meara)
CORRECTS BYLINE TO CHRIS O’MEARA, NOT JOHN RAOUX – The NASA Artemis II SLS (Space Launch System) rocket with the Orion spacecraft launches at the Kennedy Space Center, Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O’Meara)
NASA’s Artemis II moon rocket lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad39-B Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O’Meara)
Space enthusiasts camp out underneath the A. Max Brewer Bridge while waiting to view the NASA Artemis II launch, Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Titusville, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)
At around 5 p.m. ET, an issue related to communication with the flight termination system was also identified. The system “allows engineers on the ground to send a signal to destruct the rocket if it were to veer off course during ascent, to protect public safety.” That issue was marked as resolved roughly 15 minutes later.
Artemis is NASA’s return to the moon. Why astronauts won’t land there just yet
The Artemis launch had already been delayed. It was originally set for February, but hydrogen fuel leaks, followed by a clogged helium pressurization line, caused delays.
Who is among the Artemis II crew, and why did they play cards as preparation?
Mission Spc. Jeremy Hansen, of Canada, and Mission Spc. Christina Koch, Commander Reid Wiseman, and Pilot Victor Glover – all from the U.S. – will be in the Orion capsule, carried by the Space Launch System, for this lunar fly-around.
They will circle the Earth for about 25 hours before catapulting toward the moon.
Hansen will become the first non-U.S. citizen to launch to the moon. Koch and Glover are the first woman and first Black astronaut, respectively, destined for the moon.
JoAnn Morgan, 85, who was the lone female engineer inside launch control during the Apollo 11 landing, said, “It will be even greater when they actually have a woman who plants her boots on the moon.”
CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA – APRIL 01: (L-R) Pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Jeremy Hansen of CSA (Canadian Space Agency), commander Reid Wiseman and mission specialist Christina Koch walk out of the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building ahead of the launch of the Artemis II at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on April 01, 2026 in in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The 322-foot-tall Artemis II Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft will take the astronauts around the moon and back, 230,000 miles out into space and the farthest any human has ever traveled from Earth. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA – APRIL 01: (L-R) Pilot Victor Glover, commander Reid Wiseman, mission specialist Jeremy Hansen of CSA (Canadian Space Agency) and mission specialist Christina Koch walk out of the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building ahead of the launch of the Artemis II at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on April 01, 2026 in in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The 322-foot-tall Artemis II Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft will take the astronauts around the moon and back, 230,000 miles out into space and the farthest any human has ever traveled from Earth. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA – APRIL 01: (L-R) Mission specialist Jeremy Hansen of CSA (Canadian Space Agency), pilot Victor Glover mission specialist Christina Koch and commander Reid Wiseman walk to an astronaut transfer van as they depart the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building ahead of the launch of the Artemis II at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on April 01, 2026 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The 322-foot-tall Artemis II Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft will take the astronauts around the moon and back, 230,000 miles out into space and the farthest any human has ever traveled from Earth. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
A suit that Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman uses for training lies on a table in the Orion Crew Survival Systems lab at Johnson Space Center on Thursday, July 24, 2025, in Houston. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
The crew’s main mission is to ensure future Artemis missions go smoothly, Nexstar’s WFLA previously reported.
“Our motto from day one has been ‘Help Artemis III,’ succeed,” Wiseman said earlier this week.
Earlier Wednesday, they conducted the historic walkout of the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building and, maybe most importantly, played cards.
As silly as it may sound, it’s tradition for NASA astronauts to play cards as part of their preparation. As WFLA reports, the crew plays until the commander, Wiseman, loses. That, according to NASA, ideally serves as a means for him to “burn off all [their] bad luck, thereby clearing the mission for only good luck.”
While Artemis II is NASA’s first mission to the moon in more than 50 years, Wiseman and his crew will not put boots on the moon.
Where is Artemis II going?
They’ll be carried into space in the Orion capsule atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket. After launch, they’ll enter orbit and spend about 25 hours circling Earth. Then, the Orion capsule will hurl them toward the moon, about 244,000 miles away. It takes about three or four days to get from Earth’s orbit to the moon, according to NASA.
Orion will zip 5,000 miles on flight day six, going beyond the moon before flying around it. The Artemis II crew may behold never-before-seen regions of the lunar far side — with the moon appearing the size of a basketball at arm’s length during the closest part of the roughly six-hour flyby.
Then, once around the moon, they’ll travel back to Earth, with a planned splashdown in the Pacific on flight day 10. In total, the Artemis mission is expected to take nine days, one hour, and 46 minutes.
Why Artemis II isn’t landing on the moon – and who will
The Artemis II mission is only conducting a lunar fly-around, not a lunar landing.
NASA is using this mission to test Orion’s life-supporting equipment and the crew’s capabilities. That, combined with Orion lacking landing gear, is why Artemis II doesn’t include a moon landing.
NASA astronauts prepare to take historic orbital flight
Artemis is expected to culminate in a moon landing, but not until 2028. Next year, NASA plans to launch the Artemis III mission in which astronauts will practice docking Orion in Earth’s orbit.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
