Artemis II, NASA's most daring mission in generations, launches to the Moon

NASA launched Artemis II from Kennedy Space Center on a nine-day free-return mission around the Moon.

The 322-foot SLS produced 8.8 million pounds of thrust and carried four astronauts atop the Orion spacecraft.

Orion will loop past the Moon’s far side, reach about 252,799 miles from Earth, then reenter and splash down off California on April 10.