Brendan Byrne

Their capsule will be scooped up out of the water, then trekked across the country, returning it here to Florida's Space Coast in about two weeks.

Remember, this is a test flight, so engineers are going to be picking apart the spacecraft to see how it performed.

and make any necessary changes ahead of the next mission, Artemis III, which NASA wants to launch next year.

The spacecraft, named Integrity, fired its engine for five minutes and 50 seconds, conducting a maneuver called a translunar injection.

The engine burn now puts the spacecraft and its crew of four on a free-return trajectory, where it will fly around the moon and then come back home at the end of its roughly 10-day mission.

With this trajectory, it's expected that the Artemis II mission will surpass the record for the farthest distance a human has traveled from Earth at over 248,000 miles, set by Apollo 13.

Artemis II is a key test flight in NASA's lunar ambitions, aiming to land astronauts on the moon by 2028.

For NPR News, I'm Brendan Byrne in Orlando.

And liftoff!

The crew of Artemis II now bound for the moon.

NASA's massive SLS rocket roared to life at 6.35 local time, its twin solid rocket boosters and four engines cracking the air and lifting the Orion space capsule and its crew into space under a fiery orange trail.

They are embarking on a nearly 10-day mission that will slingshot the crew around the moon and back, testing key systems of the Orion spacecraft.

It's the first time humans are flying the vehicle, which will take the crew farther into deep space than any other human's.

They'll catch a glimpse at the far side of the moon during the journey, flying more than 5,000 miles above the lunar surface.

The mission will end with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.

More than 400,000 people were estimated to visit Florida's space coast for the launch.

For NPR News, I'm Brendan Byrne at the Kennedy Space Center.

It's been a smooth countdown so far.

NASA's massive SLS rocket was fueled up with super cold liquid hydrogen and oxygen earlier today without any issues.

The team continues to monitor the rocket, the Orion spacecraft and weather at Kennedy Space Center.