The new Moon mission, explained (in 1 minute)

Here's everything you need to know about the moon mission that lifted off just moments ago. It's called Artemis 2 and up here is the Orion spacecraft. The capsule has about as much space as a small camper and it's carrying these four humans. It launched from Florida partly because that close to the equator the launch pad is already traveling eastward at 409 m/s. 2600 tons of metal and fuel shoot straight up then leans east and after a couple minutes the boosters separate and fall into the Atlantic Ocean followed by the core stage a few minutes later. Orion is now traveling 8,000 m/s. It will boost into a wider orbit where it will separate from its upper stage practice some maneuvers and deploy some satellites. As it swings close to Earth again Orion's engines will push it onto a course to the moon, a journey that will take about 4 days. They'll loop around the moon's far side setting a record for the farthest a human has ever been from the Earth's surface and then they'll make the long trip back finally splashing down off the coast of San Diego. The whole thing is largely a practice run for a future mission that will put humans on the moon again and one of the reasons we want to go back is we're still not sure where the moon came from. — We made a full episode about this mystery and how a return trip might help. Which of the competing theories do you think is most likely? Follow the link next to the little play button or in the comments.