The Orion spacecraft left Earth’s orbit for the Moon

Artemis II was launched from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center the night before Thursday Finnish time. Picture: Steve Nesius / Reuters

Artemis II -flight’s Orion spacecraft has left Earth’s orbit when the service module’s powerful main engine launched it toward the Moon at 2:49 a.m. Finnish time.

Orion’s crew of four flies farther than humans have ever gone before.

“We have a wonderful view of the dark side of the Earth, which is illuminated by the Moon right now,” the Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen reported to air traffic control about ten minutes after Orion had been launched from Earth orbit towards the Moon.

The flight left Florida a good day earlier, at 1:35 a.m. Finnish time on the night before Thursday.

During the first day, the crew tested their cameras, maneuvered the Orion spacecraft, and suffered minor toilet and email problems that were fixed.

“This is like trying to take pictures of the Moon at home,” the flight commander Reid Wiseman said while taking pictures of Earth with his iPhone.

The Artemis II flight takes a total of ten days. The Orion spacecraft orbits the Moon, but the astronauts do not land on its surface.