Humans haven’t been back to the moon in 50 years. But an uncrewed NASA rocket launch set for Monday will be the first step toward returning astronauts to the lunar surface, and eventually traveling on to Mars.
NASA’s Space Launch System moon rocket is scheduled to launch for the first time ever at 8:33 a.m. Eastern time from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The towering rocket will propel the Orion crew capsule — without a crew aboard — 280,000 miles from Earth on a distant orbit around the moon. The capsule is set to splash down in October off the coast of San Diego.
The launch is the first of NASA’s Artemis lunar program — named after the Greek goddess of the moon and twin sister of sun god Apollo. The 42-day mission that launches Monday is intended to push the capsule to its limits to ensure it’s ready to carry a crew on future missions.
