NASA returns to the Moon. The historic countdown has begun

The American space agency NASA on Monday began the countdown to the launch of the Artemis II mission to lunar orbit, scheduled for April 1, AP reported. It is to be the first lunar mission in 53 years. The flight of the four-person crew is expected to last 10 days.

The weather forecast for Cape Canaveral in Florida indicates that the chance of the mission launching this week is 80 percent, with a high probability that it will take place on Wednesday, NASA announced on Monday. The launch is scheduled for Wednesday evening local time.

As part of the mission, four people – NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen – are to fly to lunar orbit.

Koch will be the first woman, Glover the first African-American, and Hansen the first Canadian to fly to the Moon.

The Artemis II lunar mission was originally scheduled to launch on February 8. Due to technical problems, the start was postponed first to the beginning of March, and then to April.

The last time manned flights reached the Moon was in 1972, more than half a century ago – the Apollo 17 mission. Since then, no human has not only landed on the surface, but has not even flown into orbit around the Moon. All subsequent lunar missions were unmanned.

In November 2022, the Artemis 1 mission was carried out, the goal of which was to enter the Orion spacecraft into orbit around the Moon and return to Earth. The ship flew without astronauts.

Sun/Spr/

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