Nasa's artemis ii mission: a giant leap for mankind

After decades of silence, NASA is poised to roar back to the Moon with the first crewed mission since Apollo 17 in 1972. Artemis II, scheduled to launch on Thursday at 12:24 AM local time, marks a monumental step forward in space exploration.

Countdown to liftoff

The countdown begins 49 hours and 50 minutes prior to launch, with the team at Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39B arriving at their posts. The journey to the Moon will be a testament to human ingenuity and determination, as the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System (SLS) rocket prepare for the historic journey.

At T-10 minutes, the sequence for the final countdown begins, with the crew putting on their helmets and the SLS rocket's engines firing up. The anticipation builds as the clock ticks down from T-6 minutes to T-0, the moment of liftoff. At 00:24 AM, the SLS rocket's engines ignite, propelling the Orion spacecraft into the sky, marking a giant leap for mankind.