Artemis capsule boost puts astronauts moon-bound for record-breaking journey

The Orion capsule carrying four astronauts in NASA’s Artemis II mission executed a key thruster firing on Thursday that will kick the crew out of Earth’s orbit and on a path toward the moon, committing them to reaching the farthest distance humans have ever traveled in space.

The successful maneuver put the crew on a path to enter the moon’s sphere of gravitational influence by Sunday morning, as they prepare to beat the distance record set by Apollo 13 in 1970.

“We are getting...