NASA's Artemis II mission achieved a significant milestone Thursday night, as its astronauts successfully fired their engines, propelling them out of Earth's orbit and onto a trajectory toward the moon.
This crucial trans-lunar ignition occurred 25 hours post-liftoff, setting the three American and one Canadian astronauts on a path for a lunar fly-around scheduled for early next week. The Orion capsule departed Earth's orbit precisely as planned, now pursuing the moon nearly 250,000 miles (400,000 kilometers) distant.
