REWRITE THIS - More than 50 years after the final Apollo mission, NASA today launched Artemis II, the first crewed mission to travel around the moon, as the full pink moon rose. Lifting off from Kennedy Space Center at 6:36 pm. EDT on Wednesday, April 1,

More than five decades since the last Apollo mission, NASA launched Artemis II today, marking the first crewed mission to orbit the moon as the full pink moon ascended in the sky. The mission lifted off from Kennedy Space Center at 6:36 PM EDT on Wednesday, April 1, aboard NASA’s Space Launch System rocket. The "Integrity" spacecraft carries four astronauts on a 10-day deep-space journey, kicking off NASA’s plans to return humans to the lunar surface by 2028. Artemis II is a 10-day expedition around the moon and is significant because it represents the first time astronauts have ventured beyond low-Earth orbit since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. The crew includes NASA Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency’s Jeremy Hansen. Upon returning to Earth, they will splash down in the Pacific Ocean, just off the coast of San Diego. Notably, Koch will become the first woman to leave Earth’s orbit and travel to the moon. This mission faced delays that pushed back timelines to April 2026 because of necessary repairs to the rocket’s interim cryogenic propulsion stage. Following Artemis II, NASA plans to conduct Artemis III in 2027, which will test lunar landers and new spacesuits in low-Earth orbit, originally intended to involve a crew landing on the moon. The first crewed lunar landing during the Artemis program is now slated for 2028 with Artemis IV, when two NASA astronauts are expected to land in the moon's south polar region. ### Objectives of Artemis II Artemis II aims to test the life support systems in NASA’s Orion capsule along with the European Space Agency’s European Service Module (ESM) that is attached to it. After launch, the spacecraft will orbit Earth twice before performing a translunar injection burn, sending the crew on a sweeping trajectory around the moon and approximately 4,600 nautical miles (7,400 kilometers) beyond its far side—the farthest distance from Earth ever reached by humans—before returning home to splash down near San Diego. During their journey, the astronauts will witness the far side of the moon, experience a total solar eclipse, and may catch a glimpse of comet C/2026 A1 (MAPS).