Liftoff. At 6:35 pm ET on April 2, a Space Launch System rocket lifted an Orion capsule from Earth. On board were Artemis II astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen. As of Thursday, they became the first humans to go beyond low Earth orbit since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. The crew will test technological systems that will be useful on subsequent missions, such as those involving radiation shielding or communication between the capsule and Earth at lunar distances. One of the most fascinating aspects is also the trajectory that Artemis II will follow during its mission. Space Is the Place Contrary to what intuition may suggest, the journey to the moon is not a direct, linear path connecting the Earth’s surface with the lunar surface. After launch, the first stage of the SLS separated from the rest of the spacecraft—the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS) upper stage and the Orion capsule. The ICPS carried the capsule into high Earth orbit, but the crew remained orbiting Earth for approximately 23 …