The so-called translunar ignition came 25 hours after liftoff, putting the three Americans and a Canadian on course for a lunar fly-around early next week.
NASA's four Artemis II astronauts have officially begun their journey towards the moon after spending a day in Earth's orbit following their historic liftoff on Thursday.
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The astronauts — Americans Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch along with Canadian Jeremy Hansen — are now on a "free-return" trajectory, which uses the Moon's gravity to slingshot around it before heading back towards Earth without propulsion.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I am so, so excited to be able to tell you that for the first time since 1972 during Apollo 17, human beings have left Earth orbit,” NASA’s Lori Glaze announced at a news conference.
"From this point forward, the laws of orbital mechanics are going to carry our crew to the Moon, around the far side and back to Earth," Glaze said.
In the moments that followed what the US space agency dubbed a "flawless" firing that lasted just under six minutes, astronaut Jeremy Hansen said that "humanity has once again shown what we are capable of."
The astronauts are wearing suits that also serve as "survival systems" — in the unlikely case of a cabin depressurisation or leak, they'll maintain oxygen, temperature controls and the correct pressure for up to six days.
'Phenomenal' views
The astronauts said they were "glued to the window" as they left Earth in the rearview mirror, taking in the “phenomenal” views. Their faces were pressed so tightly against the windows that they had to wipe them clean.
They said the spacecraft was a little chilly and they were still making it a home, but the crew was all smiles.
"There's nothing that prepares you for the breathtaking aspect of seeing your home planet both lit up bright as day, and also the Moon glow on it at night with the beautiful beam of the sunset," said Christina Koch.
Glover, Koch and Hansen already have made history as the first Black person, the first woman and the first non-US citizen respectively, to launch to the moon.
“Trust us, you look amazing. You look beautiful," Glover said in a TV interview after beholding the globe from pole to pole. "And from up here you also look like one thing: homo sapiens as all of us no matter where you’re from or what you look like, we’re all one people.”
To set the mood for the day’s main event, Mission Control woke up the crew with John Legend’s “Green Light” featuring Andre 3000 and a medley of NASA teams cheering them.
“We are ready to go,” Glover said.
Minor issues
NASA had the Artemis II crew stick close to home for a day to test their capsule’s life-support systems before clearing them for lunar departure.
They spent their first hours in space performing checks and troubleshooting minor problems on the spacecraft that has never carried humans before, including a communications issue and a malfunctioning toilet.
Queried on the toilet situation, Koch said she was "proud to call myself the space plumber.
"I like to say that it is probably the most important piece of equipment on board," she said. "So we were all breathing a sigh of relief when it turned out to be just fine."
Crewmembers also had their first workouts of the mission on the spacecraft's "flywheel exercise device" — each astronaut will carve out 30 minutes a day for fitness, a bid to minimise the muscle and bone loss that happens without gravity.
If all proceeds smoothly, the astronauts could also set a record by venturing farther from Earth than any human before.
"There is nothing normal about this," said Wiseman. "Sending four humans 250,000 miles away is a Herculean effort, and we are now just realising the gravity of that."
The Artemis II mission is part of a longer-term plan to repeatedly return to the Moon, with the goal of establishing a permanent base that will offer a platform for further exploration.
The 10-day mission is aimed at paving the way for a Moon landing in 2028.
The current era of American lunar investment has frequently been portrayed as an effort to compete with China, which aims to land humans on the Moon by 2030.
