Artemis II lifts off: four astronauts begin 10-day lunar mission

From 29m ago 18.35 EDT Artemis II lifts off: four astronauts begin 10-day lunar mission Nasa launched Artemis II on a historic crewed mission to the moon. The 10-day test flight, which will not land on the moon, is a mission packed with milestones. The mission includes the first woman and first person of color to fly into cislunar space, the area between Earth’s orbit and the moon. Artemis II’s Orion space capsule could fly them farther from Earth than any human being before them. Share

9m ago 18.55 EDT Jared Isaacman, the Nasa administrator, spoke about the Artemis II launch on Nasa TV. “It’s the opening act, the test mission,” for the Orion spacecraft, he said. “No humans have ever flown on this. We’re putting it through its paces to make sure it’s OK. It’s going to set up subsequent missions [and] a golden age of science and discovery.” Isaacman, a billionaire private astronaut and Donald Trump’s pick to lead the agency, who was confirmed earlier this year, was asked what his favorite moment of the mission would be. “After ignition, the moment I’m most excited for is splashdown,” he said. “The takeaway is gaining extra comfort in the Orion spacecraft. It’s new territory for us. SLS plus Orion is everything. On this one we want to make sure we do this in as safe a way as we can.” Share

12m ago 18.53 EDT Inside the Orion capsule, astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen have raised their visors and are immediately commencing tasks to assess how the spacecraft handled the 17,500mph ascent to orbit. Deployment of the solar array wings, which will provide Orion with continuous electrical power throughout its lunar journey, is about to begin. Share

18m ago 18.46 EDT Artemis II enters Earth's orbit Artemis II is now in Earth’s orbit. The two solid rocket boosters of the Space Launch System have separated and are floating back down to the Atlantic for recovery. The spacecraft will orbit Earth until flight day two (Thursday) when the translunar injection burn will take place and sent it on the rest of its 240,000-mile journey to the moon. Share Updated at 18.50 EDT

22m ago 18.42 EDT What a thrill. Artemis II’s successful launch looked incredibly cool. View image in fullscreen NASA's Artemis II mission to fly by the moon lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Photograph: Joe Skipper/Reuters Share

29m ago 18.35 EDT Artemis II lifts off: four astronauts begin 10-day lunar mission Nasa launched Artemis II on a historic crewed mission to the moon. The 10-day test flight, which will not land on the moon, is a mission packed with milestones. The mission includes the first woman and first person of color to fly into cislunar space, the area between Earth’s orbit and the moon. Artemis II’s Orion space capsule could fly them farther from Earth than any human being before them. Share

39m ago 18.26 EDT Go for launch! New time 6.35pm ET Polling of mission managers has concluded, officially known as the launch readiness check. The verdict is “launch teams are ready to proceed at this time”. Now it’s the final poll conducted by launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson. Things are good. She said: double quotation mark Reid, Victor, Christina and Jeremy, on this historic mission you take the heart of this Artemis team, the daring spirit of of the American people and our partners across the globe, and the hopes and dreams of a new generation. Good luck, God speed Artemis II. Let’s go. The countdown clock has resumed, lift-off in 10 minutes, at 6.35pm ET (11.35pm BST) Share

48m ago 18.16 EDT Launch delay! Mission managers have announced they are working a few issues that will delay tonight’s Artemis II launch from its original 6.24pm ET time. Launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson says the recommendation is still to launch at some point, but we don’t yet know what new time might be provided. Share

54m ago 18.11 EDT Final polls of launch and ground teams are about to take place to see if tonight’s launch will happen or not. Stand by… Share

1h ago 18.03 EDT Battery issue 'won't affect launch' A welcome battery update from Nasa’s Artemis II blog: double quotation mark Engineers investigated a sensor on the launch abort system’s attitude control motor controller battery that showed a higher temperature than would be expected. It is believed to be an instrumentation issue and will not affect today’s launch. We are back on. Again. Share

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