NASA’s historic Artemis II successfully lifts off, bound for the moon

Ronald · April 2

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.

There were several hiccups ahead of liftoff, which happened smoothly with the four astronauts successfully reaching 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.

Watch: NASA’s historic Artemis II successfully lifts off, bound for the moon

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)