Artemis II moon crew breaks Cold War-era spaceflight distance record

April 7, 2026 9:26 AM

Artemis II moon crew breaks Cold War-era spaceflight distance record

The four astronauts of NASA's Artemis II mission flew deeper into space on Monday than any humans before them, as they cruised through a rare flyby of the shadowed far side of the moon that revealed a lunar surface under cosmic bombardment. The six-hour survey of the normally hidden hemisphere of Earth's only natural satellite was highlighted by the astronauts' direct visual observations of "impact flashes" from meteors pelting the darkened and heavily cratered lunar surface. About two dozen s...

NASA launches four astronauts on world’s first crewed lunar mission in half a century

April 2, 2026 9:17 AM

NASA launches four astronauts on world’s first crewed lunar mission in half a century

Four astronauts blasted off from Florida on Wednesday on NASA's Artemis II mission, a high-stakes voyage around the moon that marks the United States' boldest step yet toward returning humans to the lunar surface later this decade in a race with China. NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, topped with its Orion crew capsule, roared to life just before sunset at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying its debut crew - three U.S. astronauts and a Canadian astrona...