In the dark hours before dawn, the most powerful rocket ever built by NASA roused the ancient launch grounds of Kennedy Space Center. At 1:47 a.m. EST on 16 November 2022, the Space Launch System (SLS) lifted from Pad 39B, carrying the uncrewed Orion spacecraft on Artemis I, the first integrated flight test of humanity’s return to deep space exploration. The Block 1 rocket generated enough thrust to propel Orion beyond the farthest reaches any spacecraft built for humans had ever traveled—268,563 miles from Earth and more than 40,000 miles beyond the far side of the Moon. Over 25.5 days, the spacecraft looped through a distant retrograde orbit, tested its European-built service module propulsion, and endured a fiery reentry at nearly 25,000 miles per hour before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean on 11 December 2022. Though no crew rode this maiden voyage, the flight validated the Orion heat shield, the SLS launch vehicle, and the Exploration Ground Systems that will support future astronauts. Artemis I is the first step in a program that will land the first woman and the first person of color on the lunar surface, establish a sustainable presence near the Moon’s south pole, and prepare the technology for the long voyage to Mars. A century after the first powered flight, the legacy of the Wright brothers’ audacity reaches toward another world.