NASA counts down for first crewed lunar mission in half a century

NASA is set to launch four astronauts as soon as Wednesday evening on a 10-day flight around the moon, marking the most ambitious U.S. space mission in decades and a major step toward returning humans to the lunar surface before China’s first crewed landing.

NASA mission managers on Monday polled ‘go’ to launch the Artemis II mission’s towering, 322-ft (98-m) Space Launch System (SLS) rocket topped with the astronauts’ Orion crew capsule as early as 6:24 p.m. EDT (2224 GMT) on Wednesday.