All Systems Go in Houston as NASA Prepares Return to Moon

At the Mission Control Center in Houston, a team of NASA personnel will be on hand 24/7 to monitor the Artemis 1 mission to the Moon Mark Felix AFP

Rick LaBrode has worked at NASA for 37 years, but he says the American quest to return to the Moon is by far the crowning moment of his career.

LaBrode is the lead flight director for Artemis 1, set to take off later this month -- the first time a capsule that can carry humans will be sent to the Moon since the last Apollo mission in 1972, AFP said.