It has been 54 years since the last human being gazed down at Earth from the vicinity of the moon. That era came to a quiet close in December 1972, when the crew of Apollo 17 splashed down in the Pacific Ocean and the space race — at least the one to the moon — seemed to end with it. Now, in the spring of 2026, that silence has been broken.

NASA's Artemis II crew is officially on their way to the moon, having successfully completed the critical translunar injection burn — the last major engine firing of the mission — which set the spacecraft on a free-return trajectory that will bring the crew back to Earth for splashdown. CNN The four astronauts aboard the Orion capsule are Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen. It is Hansen's first time in space. CNNTogether, they represent not only the United States and Canada, but the shared dream of a species that has always looked up at the night sky and wondered what lies beyond.

The road to launch was anything but smooth. The SLS rocket that fired the Artemis II crew to orbit is known to spring launch-attempt-ruining fuel leaks, and weather also looked threatening for long stretches leading up to the launch. But as the countdown clock neared the final moments, launch controllers gave the green light — firing the SLS rocket up on the first attempt, almost at the very beginning of a two-hour launch window. CNNFor veteran rocket watchers, it was an almost surreal experience. Smooth launches of this magnitude are rare. This one felt like a gift.

Pilot Victor Glover, speaking from space during a live public affairs event, said the smoothness caught even the crew off guard. "It was surprising," Glover said, sharing knowing smiles and chuckles with his crewmates. "We like to say that we're prepared without having an expectation — but, in the back of your mind, you kind of hope you launch." CNN Once in orbit, the crew settled into the rhythms of space travel — something that is both extraordinary and, in its own strange way, mundane. Over the course of the first 30 hours in space, the crew had only managed two short naps. Commander Wiseman described the sleeping arrangements with humor: "Christina has been sleeping heads down in the middle of the vehicle, kind of like a bat suspended from our docking tunnel. Victor has a nice little nook wedged in there. And then Jeremy has been stretched out on seat one, and I've been sleeping under the displays, just in case anything goes wrong." CNN There were tense moments, too. A slight problem with the water dispensing system had the astronauts bagging water as a precautionary measure just before the critical engine burn. The crew also got a cabin pressurization leak warning before the burn, but controllers on the ground confirmed the pressure and temperature of their capsule were stable, and the alarm did not interfere with the plan. NPR When the burn finally came, the crew felt the weight of history. Commander Wiseman described the moment: "When we got to that burn, we just kind of looked at each other as a crew." CNNNo more words were needed.

According to pre-launch calculations, the Artemis II mission's trajectory was expected to allow the crew to travel a maximum distance of 252,799 statute miles from Earth — besting the Apollo 13 record by 4,144 miles. With real data now in hand following the completed burn, NASA's updated estimate places the crew reaching 252,021 statute miles — surpassing the Apollo 13 record by 3,366 statute miles. CNN NASA's Lori Glaze offered a reassuring update from mission control: "Things are going really well. I think we couldn't be more pleased with how well things are going. Right now we're not tracking any issues of concern." NPR The Artemis II mission does not include a lunar landing — that milestone is reserved for a future flight. But what this mission represents is something perhaps even more powerful: proof that human beings can once again leave the cradle of Earth and venture into the deep dark. The moon hangs in the sky tonight, and for the first time in half a century, there are people heading toward it.