Artemis II is ready for blast off on Wednesday — sending astronauts around the moon for the first time in more than half a century. The US shattered mankind’s limits when its astronauts landed on the moon in 1969, with NASA’s Apollo missions sending ...

The longtime Lake Forest resident and restaurant operator recorded a message before his death last year for the astronauts, cheering their achievement. During their lunar flyby, the Artemis II crew broke Lovell's Apollo 13 record for the farthest distance humans have traveled from Earth.

NASA is targeting an April 1 launch for Artemis II, its first crewed mission around the moon since Apollo, following a successful flight readiness review.

But the bones of the operation have not changed, said Judd Frieling, one of the Artemis II flight directors, who spoke from mission control to reporters on Saturday. Every spacecr

“Dude,” exhales an overcome astronaut on the recording’s audio. “No way.”

NASA crews are rolling out the rocket that will take the Artemis III crew on the next lunar mission.