Liftoff. At 6:35 pm ET on April 2, a Space Launch System rocket lifted an Orion capsule from Earth. On board were Artemis II astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen. As of Thursday, they became the first humans to go beyond low Earth orbit since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972.
The crew will test technological systems that will be useful on subsequent missions, such as those involving radiation shielding or communication between the capsule and Earth at lunar distances….
