The Artemis II astronauts are orbiting Earth, preparing for a historic journey to the moon. Here's where they are now.

Artemis astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen are on board. They’ll hurtle several thousand miles beyond the moon, hang a U-turn and then come

NASA on Thursday gave the Artemis II crew the final go-ahead for the "trans-lunar injection," which is when the main engine fires and pushes the Orion spacecraft out of Earth's orbit and toward the moon.

Artemis II is now on a looping path that will carry the crew around the far side of the Moon and back again. It is the first time since 1972 that humans have travelled outside of the Earth's orbit.

With the last major firing of its engine, the Artemis II spacecraft is now on a path that will take it around the moon and back.

The crew of NASA's Artemis II mission contacted Earth via video on Thursday (April 2) to talk about their experience just after completing the translunar injection burn that is leading them towards the moon.

The Artemis II astronauts launched but are still in Earth orbit. They will soon begin their journey toward the moon.

With a successful translunar injection burn, NASA's Artemis II mission stopped circling Earth and began the first crewed journey toward the moon since the Apollo era.