NASA Launched the Artemis II with Astronauts on a Mission Around the Moon

NASA Launched the Artemis II with Astronauts on a Mission Around the Moon

Thousands of people lined the streets to cheer the four-person flight crew of the Artemis II. They could travel farther from Earth than any humans have ever gone before. Here’s the successful launch from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Of Note:  They accelerated to 17,000 miles per hour. It’s a ten-day trip that will lay the groundwork for landing astronauts on the moon to build a lunar base by the end of the decade. (Yes, Pink Floyd fans. They WILL travel to the “Dark Side of the Moon”.)

EXTRA!  EXTRA!  Read All About It:

STUDENT’S STUFFED ANIMAL MASCOT ZOOMING TO THE MOON

Yesterday, the historic Artemis 2 mission successfully blasted off from Cape Canaveral, but the four-person crew wasn’t traveling alone. Floating alongside the astronauts was “Rise” — an adorable, baseball-cap-wearing plushie designed by Lucas Ye, a 2nd grader from Mountain View, California.

Serving as the mission’s official “zero-gravity indicator,” the stuffed animal was the first to let the crew know they had reached orbit the moment it began to drift freely in the cabin.

“Rise” was selected from over 2600 global entries and was inspired by the iconic “Earthrise” photo taken during the original Apollo missions.

For Lucas, it’s the ultimate “show and tell” honor to have a hand-drawn dream turned into an actual thing that will circle the moon.