The Artemis II mission successfully launched into space on April 1, at 6:35pm Eastern time, from Launch Complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It will take NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, as well as Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, on a 10-day trip around the moon. This mission is the first crewed Artemis flight and will lay the groundwork for future trips to the moon itself, the first flight with a crew onboard the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft system and our first foray into deep space since the Apollo program.

A few hours into their journey, and the astronauts could already see majestic views of our planet. However, the astronauts also reported a problem with their waste‑management system, which is the first real toilet installed on a deep-space mission. The astronauts thankfully have a backup option: Waste collection bags that Apollo crews had used and had previously discarded on the lunar surface.

By 10:43PM Eastern, the Orion spacecraft carrying the four astronauts successfully separated from the upper stage of the Space Launch System rocket. Glover then started manually piloting the capsule to demonstrate and test how Orion would move and dock with the future lunar landers that will be built by SpaceX and Blue Origin. You can watch the events that happened within the first few hours of the mission below. The crew and their Orion capsule are expected to slash down into the Pacific Ocean on April 10.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/the-artemis-ii-mission-has-started-its-10-day-journey-around-the-moon-033412865.html?src=rss

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Artemis II, the first crewed mission under the Artemis program, is scheduled to launch today, April 1. NASA is opening a two-hour window for its lift off, starting at 6:24 PM Eastern time, at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The agency said the forecast for launch day “shows an 80 percent chance of favorable weather conditions” and that, on March 31, its engineers had finished critical health checks on the Space Launch System rocket that the mission will use.

On the evening of March 31, the engineers shifted the launch system into its final configuration. In the early hours of April 1, they will activate the ground launch sequencer. You can start watching Artemis II’s launch event at 7:45AM ET when the Artemis team will load propellant into the SLS rocket. Full launch coverage begins at 12:50 PM ET on NASA+, Amazon Prime or the YouTube video embedded below.

The Artemis II mission will take NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, as well as Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen on a 10-day trip around the moon. It will be NASA’s first flight with a crew onboard the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft system, and it will be humanity’s first foray into deep space since the Apollo program. During their 10-day mission, the astronauts will observe how journeys beyond Earth’s orbit affect human health. Artemis II was supposed to launch in February, but the attempt had failed due to a hydrogen leak. Another attempt in March was delayed yet again due a helium issue. If the launch doesn’t take place today as planned, NASA’s next launch opportunity is on April 6.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/watch-the-first-crewed-artemis-mission-take-flight-092800981.html?src=rss

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