There has not been a lot of news about it when Apollo was happening news coverage everywhere and I'm surprised by how many people aren't aware. Artemis 2 launched 4/1 at about 6:35p.m. EDT from Kennedy Center. As I write this the space craft is in orbit around the earth.
This is the first manned Artemis mission and is both a shakedown of the vehicle, systems and an orbit of the moon similar to Apollo 8, and like 8 will not land on the moon. Apollo was a crew of 3 and Artemis is a crew of 4.
The Artemis missions are NASAs return to the moon - the first human missions since the end of the Apollo missions - the last being Apollo 17 in December of 1972. Artemis in Greek mythology was the twin sister of Apollo fitting since there is a female astronaut on board - the first to visit the moon and females will be crew members of future missions.
For those not familiar with the program Artemis is slated to establish a base at the south lunar pole that will be permanently manned in the 2030's.
I personally am pretty excited about a return to space.
I watched it blast off yesterday and it brought back memories of watching the lift offs in grade school on the black-and-white TV set up in the gymnasium of our little school.
USA USA USA USA
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