The Artemis II mission has successfully blasted out of the Earth's orbit, with plans to take the astronauts further into space than humans have been before - more than 4,700 miles beyond the Moon
Artemis II is now on a looping path that will carry the crew around the far side of the Moon and back again. It is the first time since 1972 that humans have travelled outside of the Earth's orbit.
Brian Bilston has celebrated the occasion in his own inimitable fashion, with a poem:
How hard it is to be the moon
I hang palely in the sky,
while all else shines and sparkles
and the shooting stars go by.
And on Earth, the useless poets
scribble words in praise of me
for recital by young lovers,
gazing moonstruck at the sea.
For a time I had some company -
but then the visits stopped.
Magnificent desolation
is carved deep into my rock.
The tides sweep in and out once more.
That's the way things always are.
The Earth goes about its business.
I float alone, among the stars.