NASA begins fueling rocket to launch astronauts on the first lunar trip in half a century - AP News

AP News
April 1, 2026
3 min read

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NASA is fueling its moon rocket to launch astronauts on humanity's first lunar trip in over 50 years.

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NASA has begun fueling a rocket for a crewed lunar mission, marking the agency's first manned return to the Moon in more than 50 years. The fueling process is a critical step toward launching astronauts on what will be a historic deep-space mission following decades since the Apollo program ended. This represents a major milestone in NASA's Artemis program, which aims to establish sustained human presence on the lunar surface. The mission will test updated spacecraft and systems designed for extended lunar operations and eventual missions to Mars. Successfully completing this launch would demonstrate that NASA has recovered the capability for human lunar exploration that was lost after 1972.

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