VIDEO Spectacular images of the Artemis II mission, captured by a plane passenger / The first statements of the astronauts heading to the Moon

Some lucky travelers had front-row seats in the air for the launch of the historic Artemis II mission to the moon, a video shot by one of them going viral on social media.

Jane Clukey, an American Airlines passenger on board a flight that took off from St. Croix bound for Charlotte, North Carolina, was able to capture images of the Artemis II mission rocket after it launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral.

“It was a special moment for everyone on board who came together to celebrate the human achievement,” she later said, as quoted by CNN.

The Artemis II mission will last 10 days

More than 50 years have passed since astronauts last flew by the moon in 1972 aboard the Apollo 17 mission.

On Wednesday evening, four astronauts aboard the Orion capsule set off on a 10-day mission that will take them around the far side of the Moon.

NASA's Artemis II mission will not land on the moon, it will only orbit the Moon. It represents the first manned flight test for both the Space Launch System rocket and the Orion capsule.

This mission is intended to pave the way for future planned moon landings and further space exploration, including Mars.

The four astronauts participating in the Artemis II mission are Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Astronaut Christina Koch and Canadian Astronaut Jeremy Hansen. Victor Glover and Christina Koch are the first black astronauts and the first woman to orbit the moon, respectively.

The first statements of the astronauts of the Artemis II Mission after reaching space

“I don't know what we all expected to see … but you could see the entire globe, from one pole to the other,” Commander Wiseman said of how the crew sees Earth from space.

“You could see Africa, Europe and, if you looked very carefully, you could see the aurora borealis. It was the most spectacular moment,” he added, quoted by BBC and News.ro.

“Trust us, you look amazing, you look beautiful,” Victor Glover said of Earth. “And you look like a unified whole. Homo Sapiens represents all of us, no matter where you are or what you look like. We are all one people.”

“We call the amazing things people do 'adventures' for a reason, because it brought us together and showed us what we can do when we don't just put our differences aside, but when we join our differences and use all of our strengths to accomplish something great,” Glover said.

“Our crew is healthy and our spacecraft is functioning very well,” says Dr. Lori Glaze, who leads Artemis development and operations.

Glaze stressed that Artemis II is a test flight, and the team plans to “learn as much as possible” about the spacecraft — our science correspondent says so far so good.

Astronauts have not yet spoken to their families directly from space, but NASA will “make time” for that soon.

If the mission goes according to plan, the Orion capsule will begin flying over the far side of the Moon on April 6.