Heads tilted up. Eyes locked on the screen.

Hundreds of people gathered for the Artemis II Launch Watch Party at the Museum of Science & Innovation in Tampa. The sold-out event allowed families to watch the launch from the museum’s eight-story Digital Dome Theatre.

“Oh, it was awesome,” six-year-old Bryson said. “I might become an astronaut.”

“The 10-day mission will allow astronauts to test a variety of equipment that is important for building long-term habitations on the moon,” Dr. McKenna Wood of MOSI said.

Wood said the mission is a test of our ability to build self-sufficient habitations on the surface of another planetary body, which could be key to sending astronauts farther into space, like to Mars.

In the present moment, though, Wood said she hopes this milestone can help spark future careers for the youngsters dubbed the Artemis generation. While the moon may be thousands of miles away, Wood said she hopes the mission can inspire them to know it’s within reach.

“I think they should know that this is something that they could do, too. They could be the astronauts that go to the moon, or even go to Mars, or they could be the engineers that put them there and there are so many people that we need to be able to do that,” Wood said.

The launch was also meaningful for people of all ages.

Sisters Madison and Peyton Ryan said they celebrated Christina Koch, the first woman to travel around the moon and one of four astronauts on the mission.

“Very proud. I love to see the progress. Honestly, I’m just here to support and live the dream through them. It’s really exciting,” Madison Ryan, who also works as an engineer, said.

Peyton Ryan said the moment connected generations, especially those who witnessed the launch of Apollo 17.

“It’s just like a milestone and I felt like this was a part of history,” she said.

The 32-story rocket rose from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center where tens of thousands gathered to witness the dawn of this new era.

Artemis II set sail from the same Florida launch site that sent Apollo’s explorers to the moon so long ago. The handful still alive cheered this next generation’s grand adventure as the Space Launch System rocket thundered into the early evening sky, a nearly full moon beckoning about 248,000 miles away.