With the Artemis 1 mission scheduled to blast off in a few weeks, NASA is poised to return to the moon for the first time in half a century. Artemis 1 will mark the inaugural launch of a 32-story rocket called the Space Launch System, topped by the Orion space capsule. The capsule will fly within 62 miles of the lunar surface, while deploying small spacecraft for research on—and beyond—the moon. “To all of us who gazed up at the moon, dreaming of the day humankind returns to the lunar surface, we are going back. That journey, our journey, begins with Artemis 1,” said NASA chief Bill Nelson at a virtual press conference in early August.

Source: New York Times August 12, 2022 23:30 UTC