See National Geographic’s photos of the historic Artemis II launch

Humanity is now one small step closer to returning to the moon. At 6:35 pm EDT, the Artemis II mission blasted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida atop the 300-plus foot-tall Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. Now, a team of four astronauts—Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Christina Koch, and Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency—are on a 10-day mission to slingshot around the moon and return to Earth.

“We have a beautiful moon rise, and we’re headed right at it,” Commander Wiseman said over NASA comms shortly after the crew crossed the Kármán line, the boundary of space. Their destination was in clear view because the mission launched during a full moon.

Artemis II is the first crewed lunar mission in more than 50 years. While its astronauts will not land on the moon, they’ll pave the way for future landings by testing new technologies designed for deep space exploration—namely the SLS and the Orion crew capsule. Onboard, the crew will take part in pioneering experiments on how deep space travel impacts the human body; test out new systems to protect themselves from dangerous space weather; try out a new food warming system (along with menus of custom, cutting-edge space food); and make rare up-close observations of the lunar surface, among other tests.

But first they’re taking a ride on the most powerful rocket NASA has ever built, blasting off into a clear late afternoon sky. 

The last crewed mission to the moon was Apollo 17 in 1972, and the last astronaut to leave footprints in lunar dust was American commander Eugene Cernan. Now, with the long-delayed Artemis program, NASA is hoping to establish a more permanent human presence on the moon, complete with an eventual base on the lunar surface, and regular crewed lunar landings starting in 2028. “It is our strong hope that this mission is the start of an era where everyone, every person on earth, can look at the moon and think of it as also a destination," Koch told reporters at a pre-launch press conference on March 29.  

The mission features some notable firsts: Victor Glover will become the first Black man to visit the moon, and Christina Koch will become the first woman to visit the moon.

While Glover takes great pride in being a pioneer, he also looks forward to a day when space will be more attainable for a broader swath of people: "I hope that one day it becomes not about Black history or women's history, but that it becomes human history," he said at the pre-launch press conference.   

Wiseman, Glover, and Koch are all space veterans—each have spent more than 160 days in low earth orbit on various missions to the International Space Station (ISS). This is Hansen’s first spaceflight, and he’ll become the first non-American to fly around the moon. 

Once the crew reaches high earth orbit (about 46,000 miles above the Earth), they’ll begin testing Orion’s maneuvering and life support systems while they’re still a safe distance from home. If all goes well, tomorrow, they’ll fire engines to put their capsule on a course around the far side of the moon. During their journey, the crew is expected to reach the farthest point humans have ever ventured in space, flying around 4,000 to 6,000 miles above the lunar surface. On the final day of the mission, Orion will reenter Earth’s atmosphere traveling around 25,000 miles per hour and then splash down at approximately 17 miles per hour in the Pacific near San Diego, California.    

Follow along with National Geographic’s coverage here.