Four astronauts set for historic 10-day lunar journey as the United States advances its most ambitious space mission in decades
NASA is set to launch four astronauts as soon as Wednesday evening on a 10-day flight around the moon, marking the most ambitious U.S. space mission in decades and a major step toward returning humans to the lunar surface.
NASA mission managers on Monday gave the “go” for the launch of the Artemis II mission’s 322-foot Space Launch System rocket, topped with the Orion crew capsule, as early as 6:24 p.m. EDT on Wednesday.
The rocket—Space Launch System—will lift off from Kennedy Space Center, just one launch pad away from where the last moon-bound astronauts of the U.S. Apollo program departed more than half a century ago.
The Artemis II crew includes NASA astronauts Christina Koch, Victor Glover, and Reid Wiseman, along with Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, who arrived in Florida from Houston on Friday.
