Four Astronauts, One Giant Test: What’s at Stake for NASA’s Artemis II Moon Mission

The last time the U.S. sent astronauts to the Moon was Apollo 17 in 1972. More than half a century later, NASA is preparing to do it again. Artemis II, the agency’s first crewed mission of the Artemis era, will send four astronauts on a 10-day loop around the Moon to demonstrate that its new rocket and crew capsule can carry people to lunar distance and return them safely to Earth. NASA had been targeting an early-February launch, but after a liquid-hydrogen leak during late-stage testing, the...