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NASA’s Artemis II team successfully ignited Orion spacecraft’s main engine, setting the course for a lunar journey just a day after venturing into deep space.
The crucial engine maneuver, known as the translunar injection burn, lasted several minutes. It is the mission’s most significant propulsion event, propelling Orion out of Earth’s orbit and onto a path that will guide the crew around the moon and return them safely to Earth.
“With the successful TLI, we’re feeling optimistic on our way to the moon,” Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hanson relayed to mission control. “We want to express our gratitude to everyone worldwide who has contributed to making Artemis a reality. We felt the strength of your dedication during every second of that burn. Humanity has once again demonstrated its capabilities, and your dreams for the future propel us on this lunar journey.”
According to NASA, the burn sets Orion on a “free-return trajectory,” a flight path that naturally loops around the moon and directs the spacecraft back to Earth without the need for further major propulsion efforts.
The Artemis II crew embarked on their lunar mission Thursday, following a nearly five-minute burn that launched Orion out of Earth’s orbit for an almost eight-day round trip to the moon and back.
Orion also appeared to perform better than expected during crew-guided maneuvers, with Orion Program Manager Howard Hu saying the spacecraft responded strongly to astronaut input and that pilot Victor Glover from the U.S. “did exactly what he needed to do.”
The milestone marks the moment the Artemis II mission transitions from Earth orbit operations to deep space travel, sending astronauts farther from Earth than any crewed mission in more than 50 years.
Hanson and Glover, as well as astronauts Reid Wiseman and Christina Koch of the U.S. launched Wednesday evening aboard the Space Launch System rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The four-person crew lifted off at 6:35 p.m. on Wednesday, marking the first crewed mission beyond low Earth orbit since 1972 and a major step in NASA’s efforts to return humans to the moon.
NASA’s Artemis II Space Launch System rocket carrying the Orion spacecraft lifts off from Launch Complex 39B at Kennedy Space Center on April 1, 2026 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Prior to the translunar injection, the crew completed a perigee raise burn to position the spacecraft in the correct orbital geometry for the maneuver, ensuring the engine firing would place Orion precisely on its intended path.
With the burn now complete, Orion will spend the next several days traveling toward the moon, with NASA planning a series of smaller trajectory correction maneuvers to keep the spacecraft on course.
As the spacecraft approaches the moon, it will enter the lunar sphere of influence, the point at which the moon’s gravity becomes stronger than Earth’s pull, allowing Orion to swing around the far side before beginning its return journey.
From left to right, CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Hammock Koch participate in a media gather, Wednesday, May 17, 2023, outside of the Canadian Embassy in Washington. Wiseman, Glover, Koch, and Hansen, who will fly around the Moon on NASA’s Artemis II flight test, visited Washington to discuss their upcoming mission with members of Congress and others. (Keegan Barber/NASA)
Although Artemis II will not land on the lunar surface, the mission is designed to test critical systems needed for future moon landings and deep space exploration.
NASA has described Orion as the most powerful spacecraft it has built for human spaceflight, capable of carrying astronauts farther into space than at any point since the Apollo era.
The mission follows the uncrewed Artemis I test flight and is intended to pave the way for future missions, including plans to return astronauts to the lunar surface in the coming years.
NASA has said the broader Artemis program aims to establish a long-term human presence on the moon and lay the groundwork for eventual missions to Mars.
The Artemis II crew is expected to travel around the moon over several days before returning to Earth for a planned splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.