Artemis II astronauts prepare for Wednesday moon launch

The Artemis II crew has entered quarantine ahead of a Wednesday launch that will send astronauts farther from Earth than any human has traveled before. The mission will take the crew around the far side of the moon, marking a major milestone in NASA's effort to return humans to lunar exploration after a gap of several decades. Success on this mission is critical to NASA's broader Artemis program, which aims to establish sustained human presence on the moon and serve as a stepping stone for eventual Mars missions. The launch represents the first crewed flight of NASA's Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft following the successful uncrewed Artemis I test flight.