By Micah Maidenberg

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- Four astronauts took off on a journey to the moon, a mission intended by NASA to ignite a new era of space exploration following years of delays and setbacks.

NASA's Space Launch System rocket roared off its launchpad around 6:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday, leaving plumes streaking across the sky as its boosters and engines fired away.

Shortly after the initial ascent, the rocket's upper stage separated from the main part of the SLS rocket and began flying with the Orion crew vehicle attached to it. The upper stage began in-orbit maneuvers to set up the spacecraft for the flight planned to take the astronauts more than 250,000 miles from Earth.

The Artemis II mission is part of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's renewed push to return American astronauts to the moon's surface. The Artemis missions seek to lay the groundwork for a permanent NASA base on the moon, and eventually missions deeper into space.

Traveling on Orion are Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, from NASA's astronaut corps, and Canada's Jeremy Hansen. The four have trained for years for the mission, aiming to become the first people to travel out to the moon in more than five decades.

Their mission will circle around the moon, and is expected to set a record for the deepest that humans have ever flown in space. It won't land on the lunar surface. Transporting astronauts there is the goal of a future Artemis mission, planned for 2028.

While NASA's Apollo missions focused on landing crews on the lunar surface in a race with the Soviet Union, this time around NASA and its allies are competing with China, an ascendant space power that is planning its own research base on the moon.

Updates to follow as the news develops.

Write to Micah Maidenberg at micah.maidenberg@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 01, 2026 18:49 ET (22:49 GMT)

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