Overview
- Orion performed a translunar injection burn early Friday, sending the four-person crew out of Earth orbit toward the Moon on a nominal trajectory.
- The 10‑day mission will conduct system checks and trajectory tweaks en route, execute a lunar flyby on the far side early next week, and target a Pacific splashdown near San Diego on April 11.
- Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch, and Canada’s Jeremy Hansen are flying, marking firsts for a woman, a Black astronaut, and a non‑American on a lunar voyage.
- Orion is running on the European Service Module from ESA, which supplies propulsion, power, water, and thermal control, with key contributions from Italian industry.
- Artemis is a broad international effort under the Artemis Accords with about 60 signatory nations, proceeding alongside China’s separate ILRS program that aims for crewed lunar surface missions around 2030.