Artemis II, the historic test flight taking four astronauts on a flyby around the moon, had liftoff after months of preparation.
The Orion spacecraft and SLS rocket took off from Kennedy Space Center's Launchpad 39B at 6:35 p.m. on Wednesday, April 1.
It's the first time in 52 years that humans have been on a lunar mission.
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Nearly 12 hours into the mission, the crew has now officially started its first full day in space. These initial 24 hours are critical as the astronauts focus on essential system checks and orbital maneuvers to ensure the spacecraft is healthy before heading to the Moon.
Following its successful launch and an apogee raise burn—the engine firing that pushed the spacecraft into a high orbit 43,000 miles above Earth—the Artemis II crew released from the rocket's upper stage to conclude a 70-minute 'proximity operations' demonstration.
During the exercise, the astronauts manually steered the Orion capsule to practice the precise maneuvers required for future docking missions.
It was then during the test operation that the crew encountered an issue with the spacecraft's toilet.
They reported a blinking fault light and worked closely with the mission control in Houston to restore the toilet to normal after the operation.
After a 4-hour rest period, the four-astronaut crew will awake at 7am EDT on Thursday, April 2, to prepare for what's called the perigee raise burn, NASA said.
Compared to the apogee raise burn, the perigee raise burn pushes the lowest point of the spacecraft's orbit further away from Earth.
According to NASA, "Together with the apogee raise burn completed earlier, these burns shape the spacecraft’s initial orbit and prepare it for later translunar operations. "
The crew will then enter another sleeping period around 9:40am.
On Wednesday, a few hours before the mission's launch window opened, the mission very briefly entered a "No-Go" range, while they addressed a glitch with the Flight Termination System.
After roughly 45 minutes, the mission returned to "Go" and things continued as planned.
The launch window for the mission opened at 6:24 p.m.
Artemis II is the first crewed mission in NASA's Artemis program. The space agency has plans for at least three more Artemis missions, with the ultimate goal of building a permanent base on the moon and helping bring humans closer to Mars exploration.
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NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and CSA astronaut Jeremy Hensen are aboard the Orion spacecraft, which will carry them around the moon and back to Earth over 10 days.
"Artemis II is the opening act," NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said. "It's going to set up for the subsequent missions. That's why we're going to the Golden Age of science and discovery right now."
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Weather is a critical factor in launching a rocket. Temperatures and conditions have to be perfect to meet launch criteria.
While rain showers could've potentially been an issue, everything worked out perfectly on Wednesday, and the weather held off.
The mission was delayed a few times, first in January after arctic air settled over Florida, making it too cold for the wet dress rehearsal of the rocket.
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In February, the mission was delayed two more times, the first during a wet dress rehearsal when a hydrogen leak occurred.
After repairing the link, a second wet dress rehearsal kicked off successfully, but a few hours later, a leak in the flow of helium happened, causing the rocket and spacecraft to be rolled back to the Vehicle Assembly Building for repairs.
Finally, Orion and the SLS rocket were rolled back out to the launchpad in mid-March.
NASA didn't conduct a third wet dress rehearsal, but announced its anticipated launch date of April 1.
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Anticipation for the rocket launch kept growing as we inched closer and closer to liftoff.
People from all over the world came to Florida to watch the launch.
NASA employees and members of the media gathered to witness the history-making event.
The Artemis II astronauts will now spend four days making the journey to the moon, two days orbiting the moon and another four days returning to Earth.
They are set to splash down in the Pacific Ocean in roughly 10 days.
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