One photo of Earth, taken Thursday by Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman from the Orion window, shows the planet backlit, with auroras visible at the top right and bottom left, Lakiesha Hawkins, deputy director for NASA’s Artemis program, said Friday during a news conference.

The Artemis II astronauts, after saying goodbye to family and friends, were strapped into their seats aboard the Orion spacecraft by early afternoon, hours before the launch window opened at 6:24 p.m. Eastern time. As the astronauts sat, NASA continued with checks to ensure the safety of the crew before liftoff.

The four Artemis 2 astronauts had a chance to observe the moon this weekend, and to say they were thrilled may be an understatement of cosmic proportions.

As the Artemis II crewed moon mission soars deeper into space than humans have traveled in decades, back on Earth, the White House has proposed slashing NASA’s budget.

After a day of testing the Orion capsule high above the planet, the crew of the NASA mission became the first people to head into deep space since 1972. Katrina Miller Reporting from Johnson Space Center in Houston. Astronauts are officially headed to the ...

We’ll get eyes on the moon, kind of map it out and then continue to go back in force,” said flight director Judd Frieling.