NASA’s Artemis II astronauts have fired their engines and are blazing toward the moon.
The so-called translunar mission came less than 25 hours after liftoff, putting three Americans and one Canadian on track to fly to the moon early next week.
Their Orion capsule left Earth’s orbit and chased the moon for about 250,000 miles.
This photo taken from video provided by NASA shows Earth, left, from NASA’s Orion spacecraft as it fires its engines toward the moon on Thursday, April 2, 2026.
(NASA via AP)
The Canadian Space Agency posted on social media Thursday evening that NASA has confirmed that all critical systems are in place and that Artemis II can continue on its course.
“It’s official! Jeremy Hansen becomes the first Canadian in history to go to the Moon,” said a statement from the Canadian Space Agency.
Get daily world news
Get daily Canadian news delivered to your inbox so you don’t miss the top stories of the day.
Hansen spoke to NASA inside the Orion capsule minutes after the thruster fired, hailing the milestone for humanity.
He said workers were glued to the windows, calling the view “amazing.”
The four astronauts – including Hansen – aboard the Orion spacecraft took off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 6:35 pm Wednesday, just after the two-hour launch window opened. Hansen is joined by veteran NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch.
The 10-day mission is expected to take humans the furthest ever in space and will see humanity walk to the moon for the first time in more than 50 years.
It is the first engine to launch a crew on the moon since Apollo 17 launched its first lunar launch in 1972.
NASA had the Artemis II crew stuck at home all day to test their life support systems before taking them off for a lunar mission.
Experts say Artemis II represents more than just a return to lunar orbit — it could lay the groundwork for deep space exploration.
-via files from the Associated Press
