“NASA's four Artemis II astronauts have officially begun their journey towards the moon after spending a day in Earth's orbit following their historic liftoff on Thursday.”

“The astronauts — Americans Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch along with Canadian Jeremy Hansen — are now on a 'free-return' trajectory, which uses the Moon's gravity to slingshot around it before heading back towards Earth without propulsion.”

“In the moments that followed what the US space agency dubbed a 'flawless' firing that lasted just under six minutes, astronaut Jeremy Hansen said that 'humanity has once again shown what we are capable of.'”

“The astronauts are wearing suits that also serve as 'survival systems' — in the unlikely case of a cabin depressurisation or leak, they'll maintain oxygen, temperature controls and the correct pressure for up to six days.”

“NASA had the Artemis II crew stick close to home for a day to test their capsule’s life-support systems before clearing them for lunar departure.”

“They spent their first hours in space performing checks and troubleshooting minor problems on the spacecraft that has never carried humans before, including a communications issue and a malfunctioning toilet.”

“Queried on the toilet situation, Koch said she was 'proud to call myself the space plumber. I like to say that it is probably the most important piece of equipment on board, So we were all breathing a sigh of relief when it turned out to be just fine.'”