Thank you to the Artemis II crew – @astro_reid, @AstroVicGlover, @astro_christina & @astro_jeremy – for meeting with members of the Senate Appropriations Committee yesterday to discuss their historic mission & America’s continued leadership in space. When I last spoke with the crew during their return trip to Earth, I invited them to visit @the_cosmosphere in Hutchinson. Yesterday, the crew talked with Claire Ludes of The Cosmosphere about how the #ArtemisII# mission is inspiring the next generation of innovators, scientists & engineers.

Artemis II has successfully launched. For the first time since the 1970s, NASA has sent humans beyond low Earth orbit, slingshotting around the moon. Follow along and discover what NASA hopes to learn. 🔗

The Artemis II crew has recreated “Earthrise,” one of the most famous photographs of all time, with a small twist. The new photo is of Earthset, capturing the surface of the moon and the crescent-lit Earth setting beyond it in the same frame:

The #Artemis# II crew departed the Operations and Checkout building to head to Launch Complex 39B to board their Orion spacecraft atop NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket @NASAKennedy in preparation for their launch to the Moon later today! 📷:

During the Artemis II mission, astronauts had a fun time playing around with water in the weightlessness of space. Artemis II was @CSA_ASC astronaut @Astro_Jeremy's first spaceflight — so his crewmates taught him a lot about the physics of water in space.

After carrying the Artemis II crew 694,481 miles around the Moon and back, Orion is home at @NASAKennedy! Inside the Multi-Payload Processing Facility, teams will now inspect the spacecraft, retrieve post flight data, and remove excess fuel and coolant.