Nasa readies its most powerful rocket for round-the-moon flight

"Nasa is preparing to roll out its most powerful rocket yet before a mission to send astronauts around the moon and back again for the first time in more than 50 years. The Artemis II mission is scheduled to launch from Kennedy Space Center in Florida as early as 6 February, taking its crew on a 685,000-mile round trip that will end about 10 days later with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean."

"The four astronauts will live and work in the Orion capsule, testing life support and communications systems and practising docking manoeuvres. Jared Isaacman, the billionaire private astronaut sworn in as Nasa's administrator in December, said on Thursday the mission was probably one of the most important human spaceflight missions in the last half-century. It will be the second time in space for three Nasa astronauts, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, and the first for Jeremy Hansen, a Canadian astronaut."

NASA will launch Artemis II as early as 6 February from Kennedy Space Center using the Space Launch System, its most powerful rocket. Four astronauts will undertake a roughly 10-day, 685,000-mile round trip around the Moon, ending with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. The flight is the second test of SLS and the first with a crew onboard. The crew will live and work in the Orion capsule to test life support, communications and practice docking manoeuvres. The mission will not land or enter lunar orbit and is the first crewed lunar flyby since Apollo 17, preparing for Artemis III and a planned lunar south pole landing.

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