Artemis 2 Crew Become First Humans to Travel Beyond Earth Orbit Since the 1970s

The Artemis 2 astronauts are now on their way to the Moon. At 7:57 p.m. ET, the Orion spacecraft completed a translunar injection burn, making it the first crewed spacecraft to depart low-Earth orbit since the Apollo era.

Orion autonomously fired its main engine for just under six minutes to produce a velocity change of nearly 1,300 feet per second, setting itself on a lunar trajectory. Flight controllers and NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman monitored engine performance, guidance, and navigation data during the burn to ensure it went smoothly, and it absolutely did. No major issues arose over the course of the burn.

This marks the first time that Orion has performed its own TLI burn. During Artemis 1, the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket’s upper stage, also known as the interim cryogenic propulsion stage, remained attached to the spacecraft and boosted it onto a lunar trajectory. Demonstrating that Orion can do this on its own is a key milestone that will help pave the way for a future lunar landing.

With this critical maneuver complete, Orion will execute a smaller burn to perfect its trajectory and is now heading for the expected rendezvous with the Moon, which will occur on Monday.

“With that successful TLI, the crew’s feeling pretty good up here on our way to the Moon,” Jeremy Hansen said over the comms system. “We just wanted to communicate to everyone around the planet who has worked to make Artemis possible that we firmly felt the power of your perseverance during every second of that burn.”

“Humanity has once again shown what we are capable of, and it’s your hopes for the future that carry us now on this journey around the Moon,” Hansen added.

Around the Moon and back again

The SLS rocket and Orion launched from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 6:35 p.m. ET on Wednesday, carrying NASA’s Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and the Canadian Space Agency’s Jeremy Hansen to low-Earth orbit.

The past day has been extraordinary. Aside from a couple small technical issues during the lead-up to launch, a brief, partial loss of contact between ground control and Orion, and a problem with the spacecraft’s toilet, everything went as planned. NASA swiftly resolved each of those anomalies.

Now that Orion is moonbound, the spacecraft should enter the lunar sphere of influence on the fifth day of flight, which would be Sunday. At that point, the force of the Moon’s gravity will become stronger than Earth’s, slingshotting the spacecraft around the far side. During this gravity-assisted flyby, the Artemis 2 astronauts will have a full day (Monday) to observe the lunar surface.

The beauty of the translunar injection is that when Orion emerges from behind the Moon on Tuesday, it will already be on the free-return trajectory that will bring it back to Earth. Aside from three small correction burns spread out between Tuesday and Friday, our planet’s gravity will naturally pull Orion home. But just to be clear, the dates of these events assume the mission will proceed as planned.

Gizmodo will be tracking the flight all the way through to splashdown, and you can follow along via our live blog. Now that humanity is officially en route back to the Moon, you’ll be experiencing history in the making.