NASA’s Artemis rocket launched Wednesday
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Flor. (NBC) - NASA's Artemis rocket launched toward the moon on Wednesday from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
It lit up the night sky around 1:47am.
The rocket then embarked on a journey that will take an astronaut-less capsule around the moon and back.
Artemis I will not land on the moon, but the spacecraft will orbit nearby before returning to Earth.
The launch marks the first under the new moon-focused Artemis program.
NASA hopes this paves the way to one day send astronauts to the moon for the first time since the end of the Apollo program in the 1970's.
The next Artemis mission, which will take four astronauts to the moon, will launch no earlier than 2024.
