Ranking Member Lofgren Congratulates NASA and Partners after Orion Successful Launch

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, NASA's Space Launch System and the Orion crew capsule carrying NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen successfully launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center to embark on its ten day journey. The Artemis II mission will take the astronauts to low Earth orbit to test out key systems before journeying toward and around moon for the first time in over 50 years.

"Congratulations to NASA and its partners on this magnificent feat," said Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren (D-CA). "I am thrilled that NASA and its industry and international partners turned the corner in returning our heroic astronauts to deep space exploration. This launch would not have been possible without the thousands of employees supporting the Artemis II mission who have been working tirelessly to make this mission a success. I thank them for their dedication. This mission and the ones that will follow will continue to inspire people of all generations around the globe and prove once again that the U.S. is capable of extraordinary feats of engineering and science. Major strides in human exploration are not without risk. I look forward to following along as NASA and the Artemis team continue to support our brave astronauts during the mission and their safe return to Earth."

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