The Artemis II mission launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 4:35 MT/5:35 CT on Wednesday, April 1, carrying four astronauts away from the Earth and towards the moon on a spacecraft called Orion. The crew will have to travel some 244,000 miles (393,000 kilometers) away to reach the moon, which will take several days.

The best pictures from NASA’s Artemis II launch as four astronauts begin a historic journey around the moon after 53 years.

NASA's Artemis 2 has launched on a history-making journey around the moon and back, and the moment was captured from space.

NASA has temporarily lost contact with the four astronauts aboard the Artemis II mission as the Orion spacecraft passes behind the moon, a predicted communications blackout that marks a critical phase of the historic crewed lunar flyby.

NASA's Artemis II astronauts launched Wednesday, April 1, from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, sending America back to the moon for first time since 1972.

A group of researchers from Utah and Florida measured the sound levels produced by the Space Launch System rocket.

The mission will send four astronauts aboard the agency’s powerful Space Launch System rocket on a roughly 10‑day journey.

NASA has stopped work on a second mobile launch platform intended for an upgraded version of the SLS the agency no longer plans to develop.