Artemis II successfully launches for historic Moon mission

God bless those four unbelievable astronauts.Driving the news: NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, plus Canada's Jeremy Hansen, are just beginning what's expected to be a 10-day mission around the Moon and back.Artemis II is designed as a dress rehearsal before a lunar landing planned for later this decade. (Apollo 8 and 10 served similar roles before Apollo 11 and Neil Armstrong's one giant leap.)It marks the second launch of NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, and the first crewed mission for the Lockheed Martin/Airbus Orion spacecraft. Graphic: NASABetween the lines: Artemis II is expected to make several bits of space history.Glover and Koch will become the first person of color and woman to travel beyond low Earth orbit, respectively.Hansen will become the first non-American to voyage beyond that mark.Yes, but: NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman recently rejiggered the Artemis schedule, shifting Artemis III from a lunar landing to a test flight of one or both of SpaceX and Blue Origin's lunar landers in low Earth orbit.The next crewed Moon landing is now planned for Artemis IV in 2028.What's next: The agency plans to follow that up with yearly Moon visits to build a permanent lunar base.Editor's note: This article has been updated with President Trump's comments.