In a crucial maneuver, NASA's Artemis II astronauts fired up their spacecraft's engine, breaking away from the Earth's orbit on Thursday and blazing towards the Moon .

The key thruster firing or the translunar injection burn puts four astronauts — three Americans and a Canadian — on the path to the first crewed lunar flyby in over half-a-century since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972.

The mission control in Houston confirmed a "good burn."

The hours after Artemis II's launch

The burn was reported 25 hours after the massive orange-and-white Space Launch System (SLS) rocket carrying the Orion capsule lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

"We ‌are getting just a beautiful ⁠view ⁠of the dark side of the Earth lit by the moon right now.…