'Welcome home, Artemis': Crew celebrates historic 10-day moon mission

The Artemis II mission management team will meet shortly to make a pivotal "go" or "no-go" decision for the trans-lunar injection (TLI) burn.

If it's a "go" for the TLI, the burn will occur Thursday at 7:49:50 p.m. ET. This burn commits the Orion spacecraft to the remainder of its 10-day mission.

The TLI burn is the final major engine firing of the Artemis II mission. It will propel Orion on its path toward the moon, setting it on a free-return trajectory that will carry it around the far side of the moon and back to Earth using gravity as an assist. It will also ensure that the spacecraft returns to Earth, even if a system failure occurs.

The main engine on Orion's service module, known as the Orbital Maneuvering System engine, will provide 6,000 pounds of thrust during the nearly six-minute burn. That's enough power to accelerate a car from zero to 60 miles per hour in just 2.7 seconds.

-ABC News' Matthew Glasser

A second-grader's plush toy design has rocketed to space alongside astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover Jr., Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen on board the Artemis II moon mission.

Lucas Ye, 8, designed a white moon plush named "Rise," which wears an Earth cap with a brim highlighting the galaxy and rockets.

Lucas and his family were invited to witness the Wednesday evening launch of Artemis II at the Kennedy Space Center, an experience that Lucas described to "Good Morning America" on Thursday as "really cool."

"I feel very lucky. A little idea can turn out into a big thing," Lucas told "GMA."

Read more here.

-ABC News' Yi-Jin Yu and Nic Uff

The Artemis II crew has entered high Earth orbit about two hours after lifting off from the Kennedy Space Center.

The crew will spend about a day in orbit testing Orion's systems. If everything is operating properly, Orion will be instructed on Thursday to perform the translunar injection burn, which will send the crew and spacecraft along their path to the moon.

NASA said high Earth orbit extends "about 46,000 miles beyond Earth."

-ABC News' Briana Alvarado

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said Artemis II marked America's "grand return to the moon" during a Wednesday evening news conference.

Isaacman said NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover Jr. and Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, "are safe. They're secure, and they're in great spirits."

"We will continue to monitor their health and status as we move into the next phase of the Artemis II mission," he continued. "You have our commitment to keep the public as informed as possible on this historic mission.

"We will hold our celebration until this crew is under parachutes and splashes down off the West Coast," Isaacman said.

Isaacman said about 51 minutes into the flight, during a planned handover between satellites, there was a temporary loss of communications with the ground team not able to receive data from the crew or spacecraft. However, he said communications have since been restored.