For the U.S. space agency, this moment is the real point of no return in a carefully orchestrated test flight. It's the last major engine firing of the mission. The burn not only pushes the capsule toward the moon, it also serves as the same critical maneuver that will eventually bring the astronauts home.

The Artemis II astronauts blasted their main engine Thursday evening to propel the Orion capsule out of Earth’s orbit and on to its next phase - a four-day journey toward the moon.

NASA's Artemis II mission will launch with SLS rocket engines that have flown multiple times on past space shuttle missions. Here's their story.

Artemis II made history on Wednesday evening as four astronauts rocketed to the moon for the first time in more than 50 years. The crew will make a 685,000-mile, 10-day journey that will loop them around the moon, traveling farther into deep space than any human has before.

Thousands of North Alabamians have designed, built and tested rocket components that will eventually return humans to the moon as a part of the Artemis program.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA’s Artemis II astronauts fired their engines and blazed toward the moon Thursday night, breaking free of the chains that have trapped humanity in shallow laps around Earth in the decades since Apollo.

Artemis II could launch as early as April 1, 2026. Here are the key numbers behind NASA’s first crewed Moon mission in more than 50 years.