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Associated Press

Nasa began the countdown on Monday for humanity’s first launch to the moon in 53 years.
The 32-storey Space Launch System rocket is poised to blast-off on Wednesday evening with four astronauts.
After a day in orbit around Earth, the Orion capsule will propel the astronauts to the moon and back. There are no stops – just a quick U-turn around the moon.
The nearly 10-day flight will end with a splashdown in the Pacific.
Managers said the rocket is doing well following the latest round of repairs. Forecasters said the weather should cooperate.
Nasa’s Artemis II mission should have soared in February but was grounded by hydrogen fuel leaks.
The leaks were fixed but then a helium pressurisation line became clogged, forcing a return to the hangar late last month.
The rocket returned to the pad a week and a half ago and its US-Canadian crew arrived at the launch site on Friday.

Unlike Apollo, which sent only men to the moon from 1968 until 1972, Artemis’ debut crew includes a woman, a person of colour and a non-US citizen.
Artemis II’s pilot Victor Glover said over the weekend that he wants young people to see them and think: “Girl power and that’s awesome, and that young brown boys and girls can look at me and go ‘Hey, he looks like me and he’s doing what?’”
At the same time, Glover, who is black, looks forward to when “one day we don’t have to talk about these firsts” and exploring the cosmos becomes an all-encompassing “human history”.
Nasa has the first six days of April to launch Artemis II before standing down until the end of the month.


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United States

Nasa begins countdown for humanity’s first launch to the moon in 53 years

Nasa’s Artemis II Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft sit on Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Centre in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Photo: Getty Images / TNS

Astronaut Victor Glover. Photo: Getty Images / TNS

Nasa clears Artemis moon rocket for an April launch with 4 astronauts

Nasa’s next-generation moon rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion crew capsule. Photo: Reuters

Nasa abandons orbital station, plans moon base and nuclear spacecraft

An earlier concept of a Nasa moon base. Photo: Nasa via TNS

SpaceX and Blue Origin have been contracted to develop lunar landers. Photo: Blue Origin via TNS

Nasa’s Artemis 2 lunar mission is set to be the first crewed fly-by of the moon in more than half a century. Photo: AFP

US astronaut says illness that cut short space mission made him unable to talk

Nasa astronaut Mike Fincke is helped out of the SpaceX Crew-11 capsule after it landed  near San Diego, California, in January. Photo: Nasa via AP

Recovery vessels approach Nasa’s SpaceX Crew-11 capsule after a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, California, in January. Photo: Nasa via AP

(Clockwise from bottom left) Mike Fincke, Oleg Platonov, Zena Cardman and Kimiya Yui gather for a crew portrait on the International Space Station in January. Photo: Nasa via AP

China’s 2030 moon landing: scientists suggest a site that has long been on Nasa’s radar

A Nasa image shows a close-up of a small fresh crater in the highlands near Rima Bode II. An international team of scientists says it has  identified four possible landing sites for China’s first crewed mission to the moon. Photo: Nasa

The purple star marks the proposed landing site LS2. Photo: Nature Astronomy

The Rimae Bode region and proposed landing sites. Photo: Nature Astronomy

News

World

United States & Canada

The Space Launch System rocket is set to blast-off on Wednesday with 4 astronauts, with the 10-day flight featuring a U-turn around the moon


The Space Launch System rocket is set to blast-off on Wednesday with 4 astronauts, with the 10-day flight featuring a U-turn around the moon.


Space

Nasa (National Aeronautics and Space Administration)

Women and gender

Nasa begins countdown for humanity’s first launch to the moon in 53 years

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The Space Launch System rocket is set to blast-off on Wednesday with 4 astronauts, with the 10-day flight featuring a U-turn around the moon

The Space Launch System rocket is set to blast-off on Wednesday with 4 astronauts, with the 10-day flight featuring a U-turn around the moon