LIVE COVERAGE: Lunar mission launches, with splashdown off San Diego in 10 Days

SAN DIEGO, Calif. (KESQ) - NASA's Artemis II mission, the first crewed lunar mission in more than 50 years, successfully launched today, with splashdown 10 days later off the coast of San Diego.  

The mission lifted off at 3:35 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, sending four astronauts on a roughly 10-day journey around the moon and back.

The U.S. Navy will recover the crew and spacecraft following the mission's splashdown using a San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship out of Naval Base San Diego.

"The Artemis II crew represents thousands of people working tirelessly to bring us to the stars. This is their crew, this is our crew, this is humanity's crew,'' then-NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in 2023 when announcing the team.

"NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Hammock Koch, and CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen, each has their own story, but, together, they represent our creed: E pluribus unum -- out of many, one. Together, we are ushering in a new era of exploration for a new generation of star sailors and dreamers -- the Artemis Generation,'' Nelson added.  

Commander Wiseman, pilot Glover and mission specialists Koch and Hansen, a Canadian, arrived at Kennedy Space Center last week to begin final launch preparations.

The Artemis II mission will not land on the moon but will travel thousands of miles beyond it, providing astronauts with views of the lunar far side before returning to Earth.

Once the spacecraft departs Earth orbit, communications will be handled in part by NASA's Deep Space Network, which is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.

The mission is part of NASA's Artemis program, which aims to return humans to the moon for the first time since the Apollo era and eventually establish a sustained presence there.