In the words of Commander Reid Wiseman: FULL SEND IT!

Orion and its crew of four is in space, and in just a few days, should be in the moon's sphere of influence. I cannot believe what I saw with my own eyes. Emotional. Exciting. Ecstatic. I'm out of E words!

Absolutely breathtaking view of the Artemis II launch. Wow.

Daytime SLS SRB separation was even more spectacular than I ever expected, simply magnificent.

Artemis II: Orion Integrity is now at an orbital altitude higher than Polaris Dawn achieved, so this is the furthest humans have been for decades.

ICPS-2 has completed its first burn of the RL10C-2 main engine, placing the Orion spacecraft and Artemis II astronauts into their preliminary Earth orbit. They will coast in this orbit for the next hour before the apogee raise burn is planned.

I’m still at a loss for words

We have ignition of the second burn by ICPS-2! This will be an 18-minute engine firing to lift Orion's orbit to 43,730 miles above Earth. [Render not photo]

ICPS-2 successfully boosted Orion and its four-person crew into a high Earth orbit. This is where the astronauts will orbit for the next day to ensure Orion’s systems are working as expected while still close to home.

United Launch Alliance, under a collaborative partnership with Boeing, built the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS) upper stage of the SLS rocket.

Next up: Orion will separate from the ICPS at ~01:59 UTC.

Follow Artemis II on this live timeline to get a preview of upcoming events and when they're happening.

We. Are. Going!

Artemis II is now connected to the Deep Space Network. The vehicle is currently ~40 times further away from Earth than the International Space Station.

Human voices are now using the deep space network for the first time in 54 years