The crew includes Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen, NASA commander Reid Wiseman, and pilot Victor Glover

Over approximately 10 days, the Artemis II astronauts will orbit Earth twice before looping around the far side of the Moon in a figure eight and returning home

According to NASA, the Orion spacecraft executed a critical translunar injection burn, igniting its main engine for approximately six minutes to propel the crew beyond Earth's gravitational influence and set them on a trajectory for a lunar flyby

The manoeuvre generated about 6,000 pounds of thrust, placing the spacecraft on a precise path toward Earth's nearest celestial neighbour

NASA confirmed that the Artemis II mission management team gave a unanimous "Go" for the burn, which lasted five minutes and 49 seconds