The Trip to the Far Side of the Moon

NASA is preparing to launch Artemis II as soon as April 1, marking the first crewed mission to the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972. The mission will use the Space Launch System (SLS), a massive 322-foot-tall rocket powered by a core stage burning 537,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen and 196,000 gallons of liquid oxygen, along with two solid rocket boosters. Artemis II will carry four astronauts on a 10-day lunar flyby, traveling more than 600,000 miles round trip. This mission will take the crew farther from Earth than any humans have ever gone, as they will orbit the moon at a higher altitude than previous Apollo missions, reaching distances close to 250,000 miles. The crew consists of experienced astronauts including a Navy pilot commander, a naval aviator pilot, a mission specialist with a record for longest single spaceflight, and Jeremy Hansen, the first Canadian to travel to the moon. Artemis II follows the uncrewed