Artemis astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen are on board. They’ll hurtle several thousand miles beyond the moon, hang a U-turn and then come

Four astronauts took off on a flight around the moon in what is humanity’s first lunar voyage in more than half a century and the leadoff in NASA’s push toward a lunar landing in two years.

The Artemis II astronauts launched but are still in Earth orbit. They will soon begin their journey toward the moon.

Four astronauts lifted off before sunset Wednesday, starting a historic 10-day journey to fly by the moon and propel people farther into space than they have ever gone before. The Artemis II mission is scheduled to loop around the moon for the first time since the Apollo era.

NASA's Artemis 2 has launched on a history-making journey around the moon and back, and the moment was captured from space.

NASA launched its first crewed mission to the moon in over 50 years, a critical step towards returning American astronauts to the lunar surface and a big win for the agency’s new head, Jared Isaacman.

Under a mission scheduled to launch Wednesday evening, astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen are set to trace a figure-eight around the moon aboard NASA’s Orion spacecraft — an endeavor known as Artemis II — making them the first people to travel this far since the Apollo missions of the 1970s.

NASA is scheduled to launch the Artemis II mission on April 1, with four astronauts who will travel to the moon and back.