Our next phase of space exploration has just begun! NASA’s Artemis I mission lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida early this morning at 1:47 am EST.

The Artemis I mission will see NASA’s Orion spacecraft on a flight around the Moon and back. While there are no humans onboard this mission, it serves as a huge milestone in the journey to launch humans back to the Moon, hopefully by 2025.

So, what’s next? The mission should reach the Moon on Nov. 22. After that, it will spend two weeks in orbit around the Moon before returning to Earth on Dec. 11. Along the way, NASA engineers will be monitoring performance of the systems that will eventually support humans on board.

The rocket also launched with a number of science experiments ranging from a study of how yeast and fungi grow in deep space, to small satellites that will search the Moon for traces of water ice.

To see footage of the launch and to see where the mission is right now, check out our planetarium show, Wonders from the Webb Telescope & Beyond, now playing in the Jennifer Chalsty Planetarium, the biggest planetarium in America! Click here to learn more about our planetarium shows, view showtimes, and get tickets now.

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