HOUSTON — This may be the ultimate road trip on cruise control.
The four astronauts of NASA's Artemis 2 mission are now fully locked in to their trip around the moon after their Orion spacecraft aced a critical maneuver Thursday evening (April 2) to fling them into deep space. That engine burn, called a translunar injection, also committed the crew to return home, since Artemis 2 is flying on a loop around the moon that will bring it back to Earth. It's the first time since 1972 that astronauts have flown so far.
