NASA is hours away from sending astronauts beyond Earth's orbit for the first time in 50 years. The Space Launch System rocket, standing 322 feet tall on Kennedy Space Center's pad 39B, carries a crew that rewrites the space program's history books.
The 10-day mission launches Wednesday evening, carrying NASA astronauts Victor Glover and Christina Koch alongside Canada's Jeremy Hansen. Glover will become the first person of color to travel beyond low Earth orbit. Koch will be the first woman to do so. Hansen marks the first non-American to venture that far from home.
The launch window opens at 6:24 p.m. ET Wednesday, with a backup opportunity Thursday at 7:22 p.m. ET if weather or technical issues force a delay.
This is not a landing. Artemis II functions as a dress rehearsal, following the template of Apollo 8 and Apollo 10, which flew to the Moon without touching down. The crew will orbit Earth's nearest neighbor and return after ten days. The actual surface mission comes later.
NASA's Brian Odom, the agency's chief historian, framed the moment as continuity with the past.
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