Four astronauts blasted off from Florida on Wednesday on NASA's Artemis II mission, a high-stakes voyage around the moon that marks the United ​States' boldest step yet toward returning humans to the lunar surface later this decade in a race with China, Reuters reported. 

NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, topped with its Orion crew capsule, roared to life just before sunset at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying its debut crew - three U.S. astronauts and a Canadian astronaut - into Earth orbit. The 32-story-tall space vehicle thundered into clear skies trailing a towering column of thick, white vapor.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said the launch was an opening act for subsequent missions that would include construction of a moon base to support the "enduring presence we're trying to create on the surface."