For the first time in more than five decades, humans are preparing to travel beyond Earthโs orbit and return to the Moon.
At 6:24 p.m. Eastern, NASA is scheduled to launch a crew of four astronauts from Kennedy Space Center, marking a historic milestone in space exploration. The mission will be the first crewed journey to deep space since Apollo 17 in December 1972.
Apollo 17, the final mission of NASAโs Apollo program, launched on December 7, 1972, with astronauts Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans, and Harrison Schmitt aboard. The mission marked the last time humans walked on the Moon, with Cernan becoming the final person to step off the lunar surface.
The upcoming flight, part of NASAโs Artemis program, is designed to test critical systems needed to safely return humans to the Moon and eventually send astronauts even farther into space. While the mission will not include a lunar landing, it will send astronauts around the Moon and back to Earth over the course of approximately 10 days.
The crew includes NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen. Together, they represent a new generation of space explorers tasked with paving the way for future missions.
Following launch, the spacecraft will enter orbit before performing a burn that sends it toward the Moon. After traveling around the lunar surface, the crew will begin the journey home, concluding with a splashdown landing in the ocean.
NASA officials report that the mission has cleared its final flight readiness review with no technical issues, and current forecasts show an 80 percent chance of favorable weather conditions at launch.
The mission serves as a critical step toward future lunar landings under the Artemis program, which aims to establish a sustained human presence on the Moon and lay the groundwork for missions to Mars.
NASA will provide live coverage of the mission from launch through splashdown on NASA TV, YouTube, and the NASA app.
After 53 years, humanity is once again reaching for the Moonโnot just to visit, but to prepare for what comes next.
