UNITED STATES:&nbsp;&nbsp;Four astronauts launched aboard a massive NASA rocket on Wednesday, embarking on a long-anticipated journey around the Moon. This marks the first crewed lunar flyby in more than 50 years.&nbsp;With an intense roar that reverberated far beyond the launchpad, the enormous orange-and-white rocket carried three Americans and one Canadian away from Florida&#39;s Kennedy Space Center at approximately 6:35 p.m. local time.&nbsp;During final checks before Artemis 2 was deemed a go for launch, astronauts gave brief words: &quot;We are going for all humanity,&quot; said the Canadian aboard, Jeremy Hansen.&nbsp;Artemis launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson then addressed the astronauts directly.&nbsp;&quot;Reid, Victor, Christina and Jeremy: On this historic mission, you take with you the heart of this Artemis team, the daring spirit of the American people and our partners across the globe, and the hopes and dreams of a new generation. Good luck. God speed Artemis 2. Let&#39;s go,&quot; she said.&nbsp;The team, who donned bright orange suits with blue trim as they blasted off, includes Americans Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with Canadian Hansen.&nbsp;&quot;We have a beautiful moonrise. We&#39;re headed right at it,&quot; said Wiseman, the mission commander.&nbsp;Shortly after launch, they successfully entered Earth&#39;s orbit, where they will remain while performing various checks to ensure the reliability and safety of a spacecraft that has never carried humans before.&nbsp;They will also test its manual piloting capabilities during docking simulations.&nbsp;If all goes well, they are expected to venture forth on Thursday on a loop around the Moon, which should take about three days.&nbsp;The voyage should last approximately 10 days.&nbsp;&quot;This was amazing,&quot; said Sian Proctor, an American scientist who participated in a 2021 space mission and ventured to Florida&#39;s Space Coast, where local authorities said around 400,000 people were watching.&nbsp;&quot;I&#39;m just so happy that we&#39;re going back to the Moon, and everybody should be excited and be following the next 10 days, because this is a big step for humanity,&quot; Proctor said.&nbsp;The flight is to pave the way for a Moon landing in 2028.

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NASA's Artemis 2 mission launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, carrying three Americans and one Canadian on the first crewed lunar flyby in over 50 years.

NASA's Artemis 2 crewed lunar mission takes off

WASHINGTON: NASA on Friday pushed back the earliest date that astronauts could fly to the Moon, due to forecasts of freezing temperatures at the Florida launch site. The earliest window for the moonshot will now be February 8, two days later than originally scheduled. NASA was preparing to conduct a key fueling test over the weekend of the 98-meter rocket that is on the Cape Canaveral launch pad in Florida. But large parts of the United States are grappling with severe winter weather, with Arctic air surging across the country following a deadly winter storm. Florida is not immune: the normally sunny state could experience its lowest temperatures in decades that are forecast to hover around freezing. &quot;The expected weather this weekend would violate launch conditions,&quot; NASA said in a statement. Weather permitting, NASA crews now are aiming to conduct their final tests Monday, after which a launch date will be determined. The change narrows the possibility that NASA can launch their Artemis 2 team of four astronauts on their Moon flyby in February &mdash; just three days of potential windows remain in that month.&nbsp;The team remains in quarantine in Houston, NASA said. Heaters are atop the Orion capsule to ensure it stays warm, the US space agency said, and purging systems are in place and configured for the colder weather to maintain proper conditions. NASA officials are also preparing to launch a crew to the International Space Station, a mission that is being closely coordinated as it is currently planned to happen within days of a potential&nbsp;Artemis 2 launch. The next NASA crew rotation to the ISS could happen as soon as February 11, but depending on the Artemis plans, it could get delayed. &quot;Our teams have worked very carefully to see how we can keep moving towards launch for both missions, while at the same time making sure we avoid any major conflicts,&quot; said Ken Bowersox, an administrator at NASA&#39;s Space Operations Mission Directorate, during a briefing Friday. There&#39;s a possibility that Crew-12 could get some overlapping space time with the Moon team, a prospect that ISS astronauts said Friday they&#39;d enjoy. &quot;If we do launch before Artemis, we&#39;ll be on board the International Space Station, and part of their flight plan actually involves a call to the ISS,&quot; said Jessica Meir, the crew&#39;s commander who said they&#39;d be &quot;excited&quot; to have some intra-space conversation with their colleagues. &quot;We are all thrilled about the launch of Artemis. We are very excited to see how this will all play out.&quot; The Crew-12 team to ISS also includes Sophie Adenot, who will be the second Frenchwoman to fly to space. In another noteworthy tidbit, the new February 8 window for a potential launch to the Moon falls on the same day as the highly watched Super Bowl, the National Football League championship. That launch window would open at 11:20 pm in Florida (0420 GMT on February 9) -- soon after the game would likely wrap.

The Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the Orion spacecraft, integrated for the Artemis II mission, are seen at Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on January 30, 2026 ahead of the first crewed mission to the Moon in m

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NASA delayed the earliest Artemis 2 Moon mission launch to February 8 due to freezing Florida weather, narrowing February launch windows and complicating coordination with upcoming International Space Station crew rotations and schedule uncertainty.

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NASA's Artemis 2 crewed lunar mission takes off

NASA delays Moon mission over frigid weather

NASA's Artemis 2 crewed lunar mission takes off