TL;DR
The four Artemis II astronauts began their second day in space on Thursday after a successful April 1 launch, with a perigee raise burn scheduled to set up the translunar injection trajectory.
MSM Perspective
Major outlets are running live blogs of the mission, emphasizing the historic nature of the first crewed lunar flight since Apollo 17 in 1972.
X Perspective
Space enthusiasts on X are tracking every milestone of the first crewed deep-space mission in 53 years, with posts oscillating between technical breakdowns and raw awe.
The four astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft were awakened at 7:00 A.M. EDT on Thursday to begin Day Two of the Artemis II mission, the first crewed journey beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in December 1972 [1].
Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, and Mission Specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen successfully launched from Kennedy Space Center's Pad 39B at 6:24 P.M. EDT on April 1 aboard the Space Launch System rocket. The crew entered high Earth orbit approximately two hours after liftoff, completing proximity operations and a four-hour rest period overnight [2].
Thursday's primary objective is the perigee raise burn, which will adjust the spacecraft's orbit in preparation for the translunar injection maneuver. That critical burn, expected around Day 4, will commit Orion to the trajectory that carries it around the Moon at a distance of approximately 4,700 miles from the lunar far side [3].
NASA reports all spacecraft systems are nominal. The crew reported "feeling great" during their first communications session Thursday morning. The mission is scheduled to last approximately nine and a half days, with splashdown targeted for April 10 [4].
In a country watching a war, four people are heading for the Moon.
-- SOFIA LINDQVIST, Houston
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