Artemis II live: Nasa astronauts officially on way to Moon as they describe ‘spectacular moment’ in space – UK Times

As the four astronauts aboard the Orion capsule begin their roughly 400,000 kilometre (250,000 mile) journey to the Moon, you can read all about how the astronauts performed the crucial translunar burn and left Earth’s orbit for the first time sine 1972.

Following the successful translunar injection burn, which took the Orion spacecraft out of Earth’s orbit, Nasa Administrator Jared Isaacman has been speaking about the US space agency’s motivations for this mission and the Artemis program more generally.

“We’re in the second space race,” he told Fox News. “We are back in the business of sending astronauts to the Moon. We already won, but we are doing everything we can to win again. America will never give up the Moon again.”

Astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft are on their way to the Moon after performing a six minute burn to leave Earth’s orbit.

“Today, for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972, humans have departed Earth orbit,” said Dr Lori Glaze, acting associate administrator for the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate at Nasa Headquarters in Washington.

“Each milestone we reach marks meaningful progress on the path forward for the Artemis program. While we have eight intensive days of work ahead, this is a big moment, and we’re proud to share it with the world.”

Nasa has provided a handy graphic of the route the Artemis II crew is taking in their flight around the Moon aboard the Orion spacecraft.

After lifting off from pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the SLS rocket was jettisoned before Orion performed a high-altitude orbit of Earth.

Then began a four-day outbound transit to the Moon, 400,000 kilometres (250,000 miles) away. After swinging by the Moon, Orion will return to Earth, eventually splashing down off the west coast of America.

Nasa has had the know-how and technology to send humans to the lunar surface for more than 50 years. So why is this the first trip to the Moon since the Apollo 17 flight in 1972?

Emily Margolis, who works at the National Air and Space Museum, has the answers.

The four astronauts of the Artemis II mission are not alone on their journey to the Moon. Joining them is a softball-sized toy that was designed by a second grader from California.

Named Rise, the mascot is primarily there to serve as a zero gravity indicator: as soon as it started floating yesterday, the crew knew that they had made it to space. But it is also carrying a MicroSD card with the names of 5.6 million people from around the world on it.

You can read all about the best-travelled toy in the Solar System here.

The goal of the Artemis programme isn’t to just leave “flags and footprints”, as the Apollo missions did, Nasa wants to establish a sustained human presence on the Moon.

But what would it really be like to spend an extended period on the lunar surface? The answer is exhilarating – and brutally unforgiving.

As an exciting new era of deep-space exploration opens up, Damian Bailey looks at the challenges astronauts will face.

Nasa Administrator Jared Isaacman has shared an update on social media of the crew’s progress.

“Artemis II astronauts are doing great,” he wrote on X.

“The Orion spacecraft is performing well in an impressive elliptical orbit, and the Mission Control team is taking good care of the crew. Meanwhile, back at [the Kennedy Space Center}, the teams are out at the pad getting ready for what comes next.

“We are going to get into a rhythm of launching Moon rockets around here.”

We have heard from the Nasa live feed that the astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft are now waking up from a 4.5 hour rest period.

Next up will be a trans-lunar injection burn that will propel them out of Earth’s orbit and towards the Moon.

The burn should last for around six minutes, if all goes to plan, and they will reach lunar orbit on Monday.

Air traffic tracker Flightradar24 has shared a visualisation of flights around Florida during yesterday’s launch.

It shows the airspace being cleared off the east coast of Florida during the launch window for Artemis II, before resuming again shortly after.

Passengers on some of the planes flying nearby have shared videos of the launch, showing the rocket’s remarkable path to space.