Historic Artemis II Mission Leaves Earth Orbit, and the Orion Spaceship Is Now on a Four-Day Journey to the Moon
The Artemis II crew made their way into space exploration history.
After the first part circling our planet, the historic Artemis II mission enters its most dangerous phase as the Orion capsule departs Earth orbit on its way to the Moon.
They are now officially flying to the moon after firing their thrusters and leaving Earth’s orbit.
Now begins a four-day journey that will take the 4-person crew where only two dozen humans have gone before.
Good morning, world!
We have spectacular new high-resolution images of our home planet, all of us looking back through the Orion capsule window at our Artemis II astronauts as they continue their journey to the Moon. pic.twitter.com/QjxGfWiRcS
— NASA (@NASA) April 3, 2026
The New York Post reported:
“The Orion capsule flawlessly executed the nearly six-minute maneuver — known as the translunar ejection burn — Thursday night, just over a day after the historic mission launched from Florida’s Cape Canaveral.”
Nominal translunar injection burn complete. The Artemis II crew is officially on the way to the Moon.
America is back in the business of sending astronauts to the Moon. This time, farther than ever before.
— NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman (@NASAAdmin) April 3, 2026
“Artemis II had been slowly circling the Earth in a large elliptical orbit since the launch, but the injection burn accelerated the capsule to about 22,000 mph and broke it free from orbit — launching it into the empty 250,000 mile vastness between the Earth and moon known as the cislunar space.”
It’s not a straight shot to the far side of the Moon!
Over approximately 10 days, the Artemis II astronauts will orbit Earth twice before looping around the far side of the Moon in a figure eight and returning home. pic.twitter.com/udjejhxgVx
— NASA (@NASA) April 2, 2026
“The mission’s four-person crew — Cmdr. Reid Wiseman, specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen, and pilot Victor Glover — will now buckle down for a four-day journey into deep space before arriving at the moon on Monday evening, if everything goes to plan.”
On Sunday the Orion will enter the ‘lunar sphere of gravitational influence’ and on Monday (day 6 of the mission), begins the lunar flyby, with the crew within 4,000 miles of the moon, watching the far side in sunlight for the first time.
“I’m the space plumber, I’m proud to call myself the space plumber.”
Mission specialists like @Astro_Christina train for all roles so they can jump in wherever they’re needed. Sometimes that means fixing vital machinery, like the spacecraft toilet. pic.twitter.com/RGBWkwRgX7
— NASA (@NASA) April 3, 2026
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