March 03, New Delhi — NASA's Artemis II mission: the four Artemis astronauts fired up their spacecraft's engine to break away from Earth's orbit and head toward the Moon on Thursday.
With enough thrust to accelerate a stationary car to highway speed in less than three seconds, the Orion capsule engine propelled the astronauts on their trajectory toward the Moon.
They will make a loop around it during the 10-day Artemis II mission.
The burn, lasting just under six minutes, set the astronauts on their three-day voyage toward Earth's natural satellite—the first since 1972.
The burn came one day after the enormous orange-and-white Space Launch System rocket, carrying the Orion capsule, blasted off flawlessly from Kennedy Space Center in Florida for the long-anticipated journey around the Moon.
The astronauts spent the early hours checking systems and fixing minor issues, then marked day two with music and began daily workouts to counter the effects of zero-gravity.
The Embassy of India in Washington has congratulated NASA on this historic step.
In a social media post on X, the embassy wrote, "Artemis II marks a historic step in humanity's return to deep space and the journey back to the Moon.
As the U.S. celebrates 250 years, we congratulate the entire Artemis II team on this landmark mission.
As a signatory of the Artemis Accords, India looks forward to advancing our growing collaboration with NASA in shaping the future of space exploration."
(Photo/Video Credit: @NASA)