NASA's mission management team cleared the Artemis II crew Thursday to officially break out of Earth's orbit and begin heading for the moon, marking a significant step in the 10-day lunar mission.

The Orion space capsule lifted out of Florida's Kennedy Space Center Wednesday night, marking the start of the first lunar mission in over 50 years. The last time the United States sent people to the moon was in the Apollo missions that ended in 1972.

The four-person Artemis II crew spent their first full day in space Thursday where they tested the capsule's myriad systems, and its maneuverability. They also adjusted the capsule's highly elliptical orbit to line them up for their trajectory to the moon.

"Hey just to make it clear in the open here, we are go for the [trans-lunar injection] after the [mission management team] concluded their deliberations a few minutes ago, and we're going to proceed down that path and get ready for the burn here," lead Flight Director Jeff Radigan told the Artemis crew, per CBS News.

"We love those words. And we're loving the view," Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen replied. "We're falling back to Earth real fast and looking forward to accelerating back to the moon."

The astronauts are expected to reach the far side of the moon next Monday and then return to Earth late next week.

The four-person crew is expected to spend 10 days in space and the journey will be a test for the Orion spacecraft’s life support systems and is important for the crew to practice operations that will be required for the subsequent Artemis missions aimed at planting boots on the lunar surface by 2028, according to NASA’s timeline. 

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.