Four astronauts have blasted off aboard a powerful NASA rocket, beginning a landmark journey around the Moon in the first crewed lunar flyby mission in more than five decades.

The launch from Kennedy Space Center saw the towering orange-and-white rocket soar into the sky, carrying astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen.

The crew has since entered Earth’s orbit and is conducting critical safety checks aboard the Orion spacecraft, including complex manoeuvres designed to simulate docking with a future lunar lander. Officials confirmed that minor technical glitches and a brief communication issue encountered shortly after launch have been successfully resolved, with the crew in stable condition.

If all proceeds as planned, the spacecraft will soon leave Earth’s orbit for a multi-day journey around the Moon, with the entire mission expected to last about 10 days. The flight is set to gather new data and imagery while also setting new distance records for human space travel.

The mission marks several historic milestones, including the first woman, the first person of color, and the first non-American astronaut to be assigned to a lunar mission. It is also the first crewed flight of NASA’s Space Launch System rocket, a key component of the agency’s plan to return humans to the Moon and establish a sustained presence on its surface.