Historic Moon mission launch set

NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — On Wednesday three men and one woman are set to embark on the first crewed journey to the Moon since 1972, a landmark odyssey that aims to launch the US into a new era of space exploration.

The NASA mission dubbed Artemis 2 has been years in the making after facing repeated setbacks, but is finally scheduled to take off from Florida as early as 1 April at 6:24 p.m.

The team featuring Americans Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch along with Canadian Jeremy Hansen will set forth on the approximately 10-day mission and hurtle around Earth’s natural satellite without landing — much like Apollo 8 did in 1968.

The journey marks a series of historic accomplishments: it will send the first person of color, the first woman and the first non-American on a lunar mission.

It is also the inaugural crewed flight of NASA’s new lunar rocket, dubbed SLS.

The mammoth orange-and-white rocket is designed to allow the US to repeatedly return to the Moon in years to come, with the goal of establishing a permanent base that will offer a platform for further exploration.

“The moon is a witness plate to our entire solar system’s formation,” said astronaut Koch in a press conference over the weekend.

“It’s a stepping stone to Mars, where we might have the most likelihood of finding evidence of past life, but it’s also a Rosetta Stone for how other solar systems form.”

If Wednesday’s launch is canceled or delayed, there are more liftoff opportunities through 6 April, although weather later in the week was looking slightly less favorable, officials said.