In just two days, four astronauts could launch toward the moon for the first time in more than 50 years.
The crew, NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch and Victor Glover and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, are set to fly on NASA’s Artemis II mission, a 10-day journey that will take them swinging around the moon. Their path through space could send the group farther from Earth than any human has ever ventured, surpassing the Apollo 13 distance record of 248,655 miles set in 1970.
Though the astronauts will not land on the moon’s surface, the flight is meant to kick-start a new era of lunar exploration, paving the way for a targeted moon landing in two years. The Artemis II mission will mark the first time that NASA’s Space Launch System rocket and Orion capsule carry human passengers.
If that’s cause for any trepidation, the astronauts haven’t let it show.
“The four of
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