The crew of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Artemis II mission on Friday successfully cleared Earth's orbit and is now on course toward the Moon, marking a historic step in humanity's return to deep space exploration. According to NASA, the Orion spacecraft executed a critical translunar injection burn, igniting its main engine for approximately six minutes to propel the crew beyond Earth's gravitational influence and set them on a trajectory for a lunar flyby.

The manoeuvre generated about 6,000 pounds of thrust, placing the spacecraft on a precise path toward Earth's nearest celestial neighbour. NASA confirmed that the Artemis II mission management team gave a unanimous "Go" for the burn, which lasted five minutes and 49 seconds. The successful execution of this manoeuvre officially puts the astronauts on course to travel around the Moon for the first time since the historic Apollo 17 mission in 1972.