'For the First Time in 53 Years, Humans Head for the Moon'... Artemis II Launch [Watching Science YouTube]

[Financial News] For the first time in 53 years, a crewed spacecraft is successfully on its way to the Moon.
On the 2nd, according to the science YouTube channel Unrealscience, Artemis II lifted off successfully at around 7:35 a.m. Korea time. The Artemis II launch, streamed live on Unrealscience, is the first crewed mission to send humans near the Moon in 53 years, since Apollo 17 in 1972.
As of 8:00 a.m. Korea time, Artemis II had completed a successful ascent, separated from its main engine, and was cruising smoothly toward the Moon. It is expected to circle Earth once over the course of the day and arrive at the Moon three days later.
Four astronauts are on board this flight. They are riding the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (Orion spacecraft), mounted atop the Space Launch System (SLS), currently the most powerful operational launch vehicle in the world developed by the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Over roughly 10 days, they will carry out a Lunar flyby mission near the Moon and then return to Earth. They will not land on the lunar surface, but the core goal is to validate the Orion spacecraft’s life-support, communications, and navigation systems in a real deep-space environment.
This mission is the second phase of the Artemis Program, which aims to establish a forward base for future Mars exploration. In 2022, the uncrewed test flight Artemis I verified the basic performance of the Orion spacecraft. Artemis II now checks whether all those systems function properly with humans on board. After that, Artemis III is planned to finally return humanity to the lunar surface.
This flight carries the first Black, first female, and first non-American crew members ever to fly on a mission around the Moon. Observers say this symbolically demonstrates that the Artemis Program places diversity and international cooperation at its core. No one alive today has previously witnessed humans traveling near the Moon in real time. Artemis II is being hailed as a historic mission that ends a gap of more than half a century.
jiany@fnnews.com Yeon Ji-an Reporter