NASA’s Artemis II mission lifted off Wednesday evening, sending a four-person crew aboard the Orion spacecraft on a historic journey around the moon — the first time astronauts have traveled beyond low-Earth orbit in more than five decades.

The crew — NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen — boarded the 322-foot Orion spacecraft at Launch Complex 39B at Kennedy Space Center earlier in the day, ahead of a scheduled liftoff at 6:35 p.m.

The mission is set to carry the astronauts on a trip around the moon and back to Earth, marking the first crewed deep-space voyage since 1972.

While Artemis II will not include a lunar landing, it will take the crew farther from Earth than any human mission since the Apollo program.

NASA has described the Orion spacecraft as the most powerful rocket system it has ever developed.

Rising 322 feet into the sky, the launch system is designed to propel both the spacecraft and its crew into deep space, serving as a critical test for systems needed in future missions aimed at landing astronauts on the moon.

With the crew now in orbit, they are expected to spend several days in space, including a multi-day passage around the far side of the moon before returning for a planned splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.

The mission had originally been targeted for a February launch, but technical problems uncovered during testing delayed the timeline. Among the issues were fuel and helium leaks that required repairs to the Space Launch System rocket.

Artemis II follows the successful uncrewed Artemis I mission and represents a key step toward future objectives, including Artemis III, which is intended to place astronauts back on the lunar surface.

NASA has said the broader Artemis program is designed to support sustained exploration of the moon and to help prepare for eventual human missions to Mars.

The Artemis initiative was launched in 2017 under President Donald Trump as part of an effort to return American astronauts to the moon.

Ahead of Wednesday’s launch, Trump praised the mission and its crew.

“America is going back to the Moon!,” he said. “America doesn’t just compete, we DOMINATE, and the whole World is watching. God bless our incredible Astronauts, God bless NASA, and God bless the Greatest Nation ever to exist, the United States of America!”

House Speaker Mike Johnson also commended the astronauts and NASA’s efforts.

“Praying for the safety and success of the Artemis II crew and @NASA as they undertake a mission that will carry humanity farther into space than we have gone in over half a century,” he said. “I had the privilege of hosting these courageous pioneers at the State of the Union earlier this year. Americans are watching proudly as our Golden Age reaches new heights!”