Artemis II Launches — First Crewed Mission Beyond Low Earth Orbit Since Apollo 17

NASA's SLS Block 1 rocket carrying the Orion spacecraft (callsign: Integrity) lifted off from Launch Complex 39B at Kennedy Space Center at 6:35:12 p.m. EDT, approximately 11 minutes after the opening of the two-hour launch window. This is the first time humans have traveled beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in December 1972 — a gap of 53 years. The countdown had two brief technical holds: a Flight Termination System ground hardware communications issue (resolved with legacy shuttle-era equipment) and a Launch Abort System battery sensor showing elevated temperature (determined to be an instrumentation anomaly). Weather conditions improved to 90% favorable by launch day. The crew — Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover (first person of color beyond LEO), Mission Specialist Christina Koch (first woman on lunar trajectory), and Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen (CSA, first non-American on a lunar trajectory) — donned their orange Orion Crew Survival System suits at the O&C Building, signed the 'white room' wall per Gemini-era tradition, and boarded Orion at approximately 2:30 p.m. EDT. All four solid rocket boosters separated on schedule; Orion's solar arrays (63-foot wingspan) fully deployed post-launch. The spacecraft is on a trans-lunar trajectory for a 10-day lunar flyby mission.