Artemis I stands high on launchpad before launch

NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the Orion spacecraft with its European Service Module, at Launch Pad 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA, on 12 November, 2022.

The Artemis I mission will be the first test of SLS, Orion and the European Service Module.

The Orion spacecraft with European Service Module will fly farther from Earth than any human-rated vehicle has ever flown before.

The spacecraft will perform a flyby of the Moon, using lunar gravity to gain speed and propel itself 70 000 km beyond the Moon, almost half a million km from Earth – further than any human has ever travelled, where it will inject itself in a Distant Retrograde Orbit around the Moon.
On its return journey, Orion will do another flyby of the Moon before heading back to Earth.

The total trip will take around 20 days, ending with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean without the European Service Module – it separates and burns up harmlessly in the atmosphere.