Dozens of Long Island residents gathered at the Cradle of Aviation on Wednesday to witness history as NASA launched its Artemis II mission from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The mission to loop the moon is the first time astronauts will travel into deep space since 1972.

The lunar flyby is manned by four astronauts. It will travel for the first time thousands of miles beyond the moon, beyond low-Earth orbit, before making its way back to Earth.