Updated on: April 2, 2026 / 7:58 PM EDT / CBS News

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The Orion capsule and its three-man, one-woman crew successfully broke out of Earth orbit and headed for the moon Thursday evening, hours after NASA's mission management team cleared the Artemis II crew for a critical rocket firing.

The shuttle-era Orbital Maneuvering System engine at the base of the Orion capsule's service module began firing for five minutes and 50 seconds starting at about 7:50 p.m. EDT as the spacecraft raced through the low point of its elliptical orbit.

The engine firing provided a slingshot-like boost to the Orion, speeding it up to some 25,000 mph, the velocity needed to break free of Earth's gravitational clasp for a four-day trek to the moon.

NASA's Mission Management Team had met earlier in the day, and after reviewing the Orion's near-flawless performance, cleared the spacecraft and its crew for the critical trans-lunar injection, or TLI burn, a make-or-break milestone for the lunar fly-around.

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