Artemis II launch countdown begins as NASA takes historic step towards returning to the moon TONIGHT: Live updates

Astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen boarded the Orion spacecraft and were hours away from rocketing into space with the Artemis II mission.

The 32-story Space Launch System rocket will launch tonight with a two-hour launch window starting at 6:24 pm ET.

They will travel several thousand miles beyond the moon, make a U-turn, and return directly over a 10-day period.

The White House shared a video promoting the launch of Artemis II.

‘TODAY. ARTEMIS II. AROUND THE MOON FOR ALL HUMANITY in X,” the White House wrote.

The danger of a solar flare that would interfere with the historic Artemis II lunar mission is being monitored by NASA and warns that excessive radiation could delay the launch.

The sun has been unusually active in recent months, causing more moderate and powerful outbursts without warning, NASA weather chief Mark Burger explained Tuesday.

A solar flare is a sudden, powerful explosion of radiation and light emitted from the surface of the sun. These flares are often accompanied by coronal mass ejections (CMEs), which are massive clouds of charged particles that explode into space at high speeds.

He explained the personal items the Artemis II crew will carry with them as they orbit the moon.

Mission pilot Victor Glover, a devoted Christian and longtime Sunday school teacher, brings his Bible.

Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen will carry four moon-shaped necklaces that he once gave to his wife and children, then collect them back so they can travel to deep space.

Commander Reid Wiseman keeps his choice simple; He takes only notepaper and a pen with him to record his thoughts while looking at the Earth and the Moon. He also brings letters from his two daughters.

Mission specialist Christina Koch will carry handwritten messages from loved ones, and says the notes her family touched and wrote will carry special meaning as they travel farther from home than ever before.

Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, a retired NASA astronaut, told reporters at the Kennedy Space Center today that he was jealous of the Artemis II crew.

“You know, I texted Reid and Victor yesterday, wished them well, told them I was ready if they needed someone to step in at the last minute,” Kelly said.

‘I must say I’m a little jealous.’

Astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen will be aboard Artemis II.

Wiseman, 50, is a retired Navy captain from Baltimore, Maryland, and will serve as commander of Artemis II.

Glover, 49, is one of NASA’s few black astronauts, a Navy captain and former fighter pilot from Pomona, California.

Koch is a 47-year-old electrical engineer from Jacksonville, North Carolina. She holds the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman (328 days) and participated in the first all-female spacewalk during her extended stay on the space station in 2019.

Hansen, 50, works as an astronaut at the Canadian Space Agency and will make his first space flight.

He will serve as his country’s first ambassador to the moon and is also a fighter pilot and physicist.

Pictured: Hansen, Glover, Wiseman and Koch

The astronauts are sealed inside the Orion capsule and are entering the final phase before humanity’s first journey to the moon in more than half a century.

After reaching the launch pad, the crew boarded an elevator high above the ground and signed their names in the historic ‘white room’, the last stop before boarding the spacecraft.

After locking their helmets and adjusting their clothing, they climbed into the tight capsule, roughly the size of a small trailer, where they could remain for 10 days if the mission started as planned.

Satellite images show NASA’s Artemis II Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft at Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, ahead of its launch today.

Donald Trump celebrated the launch of Artemis II, using it as an opportunity to tout US dominance in space.

‘Tonight at 6:24pm EST, America returns to the Moon for the first time in over 50 years! “Artemis II, one of the most powerful rockets ever built, launches our brave Astronauts into Deep Space, farther than any human has ever gone,” he wrote on Truth Social.

‘WE ARE WINNING IN Space, on Earth and everywhere in between – Economically, Militaryly and now BEYOND THE STARS. No one can get close! America doesn’t just compete, we DOMINATE and the whole World is watching.

‘God bless our incredible Astronauts, God bless NASA, and God bless the United States of America, the Greatest Nation that has ever existed!’

Hours before NASA’s first crewed mission around the Moon in 53 years, an astronaut is forced to have a heartbreaking conversation with his daughters.

Reid Wiseman, commander of Artemis II, is preparing to launch this afternoon with NASA’s Victor Glover and Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen for a 10-day mission to the moon.

Before Wiseman, 50, headed to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, he took his daughters Ellie and Katherine for a walk to prepare for the line-of-duty death.