Artemis II’s Orion spacecraft has successfully executed its translunar injection, propelling the four astronauts beyond Earth’s orbit and toward the Moon’s far side, according to NASA. The five-minute and 55-second engine burn, known as the translunar injection (TLI), went ‘flawlessly,’ NASA’s Dr. Lori Glaze said afterwards.

On the Journey to the Moon

From the Orion capsule. Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen said the crew was ‘feeling pretty good up here on our way to the Moon.’ Artemis II is now on a looping path that will carry the crew around the far side of the Moon and back again. It is the first time since 1972 that humans have travelled outside of the Earth’s orbit.

On the livestream from Orion, Earth is slowly shrinking, as the capsule moves further and further into space. Hansen, who is the first non-American to travel to the Moon, told NASA’s mission control that the crew ‘firmly felt the power’ of those who have persevered and worked so hard on this mission.

‘Humanity has once again shown what we are capable of,’ he said. ‘It’s your hopes for the future that carry us now on this journey around the Moon.’ After spending roughly a day in a stretched-out ‘high Earth orbit,’ Orion’s engines, navigation and life-support systems were checked, while the capsule looped our planet.

Preparing for the Translunar Injection

At last, the final approval was given, and the engine burn could begin – the mission’s last, big move towards the Moon. Behind the crew’s seats, the service module lit its single main engine in a long, steady push that added thousands of kilometres per hour to Orion’s speed.

The TLI propelled the spacecraft on a journey that is expected to carry the crew farther from Earth than anyone has been before – more than 4,700 miles (7,600 km) beyond the Moon – before gravity swings them back. NASA estimates that this could edge past the record set by Apollo 13 in 1970, depending on the fine details of the timing and trajectory.

TLI is not a point of no return for Orion – even after the big burn to the Moon, controllers can still carry out the equivalent of a handbrake turn in space and bring the crew back to Earth if something goes seriously wrong. In the event of an emergency, the U-turn is the fastest way home in the first 36 hours after the TLI.

After that it can be just as quick, and often simpler, to stay on course around the Moon and fall back to Earth, Orion programme manager Howard Hu said before the launch. He added that the team have ‘run hundreds of thousands of [simulations] to ensure that we are able to get the crew home safely.’

Looking Ahead to the Mission

At a briefing after the successful engine burn, he was all smiles, telling reporters: ‘What a great couple of days!’ As Orion surges into deep space, the views through its windows will become steadily more inspirational: the Earth shrinking to a small blue and white marble behind them, while the Moon grows from a bright disc into a heavily cratered world filling the frame.

On about the sixth day of the mission, as Orion cruises beyond the Moon, the astronauts will get to see a total solar eclipse. The Moon will slide directly in front of the Sun so its bright face is completely covered to reveal its normally concealed shimmering halo, with Earth hanging off to one side.

There’s a lot of astro-jargon involved in space missions, and TLI is the latest space lingo many of those following this mission have come to know. Hopefully it will be remembered as the giant push that took humanity one small step closer to walking on the lunar surface again.

NASA’s Artemis II spacecraft is orbiting high above Earth after a successful and spectacular launch as its four astronauts get ready to thrust on to their destination – the Moon. The first crewed lunar mission in half a century blasted off from Kennedy Space Centre in Florida after NASA resolved some technical issues that had briefly paused the countdown.

Spectators at the launch said they could feel the power of the rocket through their entire bodies. A few minutes later commander Reid Wiseman declared ‘Great view… we have got a great Moonrise’ – a reminder that this crew will see things that only a handful of humans have witnessed.

The delicate technical choreography – including rocket booster separations – went as planned as Artemis passed the Kármán line boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and space. ‘After a brief 54-year intermission, NASA is back in the business of sending astronauts to the Moon,’ NASA administrator Jared Isaacman told a news conference.

They won’t land on the Moon during their 10-day mission, but plan to circle it and could travel further from Earth than anyone has ever been before returning. This mission will set the stage for a crewed lunar landing currently scheduled for 2028, then further out, plans for a permanently crewed base on the Moon and an eventual voyage to Mars.

On Thursday the focus was very much on the next key stage – the powerful engine burn known as the ‘translunar injection’ that will sling the crew out of Earth orbit and on towards the Moon. Before that could happen Artemis needed to go a little higher in its orbit. That manoeuvre – a perigee raise burn – went smoothly.

The astronauts had woken up to oversee this after what will have been a welcome although brief sleep of a few hours. Chatter from the Orion capsule suggested they were in good spirits, although feeling a chill. Astronaut Christina Koch asked mission control: ‘It is very cold in the cabin, any chance you can make it warmer, or reduce the cabin fan speed a bit more so the ventilation is not blowing as hard?’ Mission control is working to warm things up.