Of the 24 Nasa astronauts who travelled to the Moon in the Apollo missions of the 1960s and 1970s, just five remain.
The mission was almost flawless but there are considerable obstacles ahead before a Moon landing.
Nasa has released the first photographs taken by the Artemis II astronauts during their fly-by of the Moon.
The Artemis II mission has been near flawless to date, but has the test flight shown Nasa is ready to send humans to the lunar surface?
The first two images show an 'Earthrise' and the solar eclipse the astronauts viewed.
The four astronauts aboard the Artemis II mission's Orion capsule have encountered intermittent complications with their spacecraft's toilet.
The mission's last, big push on its lunar journey takes humans out of Earth orbit for the first time since 1972.
There was giddy euphoria at the Kennedy Space Center after the launch, writes the BBC's Pallab Ghosh.
Huge crowds are gathering around the Kennedy Space Centre to see the launch of the historic moon mission.
