Next giant step: Artemis II prepares for critical burn to launch crew toward the moon
Just hours after its successful launch, NASA confirmed Thursday that the Artemis II team is moving ahead with the mission’s next critical step: the translunar injection burn. The six‑minute maneuver will increase Orion’s speed by roughly 900 miles per hour, sending the spacecraft on a direct path to intercept the moon in about three days. Once complete, the burn will push the crewed capsule beyond the upper atmosphere and onto a trajectory that will take the astronauts farther from Earth than any humans have ever traveled before looping around the moon and returning home.