This time next year, NASA plans to send its first crewed mission to the moon in more than 50 years. NPR visited the facility to find out how astronauts are preparing for this high stakes exploration.
Navy Capt. Victor Glover, who spent nearly six months aboard the International Space Station, will be among four astronauts to venture back to the moon for the first time since 1972.
If successful, the uncrewed spacecraft would be the first U.S. lunar landing in more than 50 years, and would mean one giant leap for the commercial space sector.
The group will fly on NASA's Orion spacecraft as part of the Artemis program, which aims to return astronauts to the moon for the first time 50 years and establish a long-term presence there.
December 7, 1972 was the launch of the final mission in NASA's Apollo moon program. Fifty years later, NASA finally seems poised to return people to the lunar surface.
NASA's Artemis moon rocket has finally launched after months of setbacks, from fuel leaks to hurricanes. If successful, the mission signals a big step toward returning humans to the moon.
The space agency has been trying for months to send its giant moon rocket on its first test flight. The goal is to send a crew capsule, with no astronauts on board, around the moon and back.
Astronauts could return to the moon in a few years, and if they do, they might be wearing spacesuits designed with the help of Georgia Tech's Thom Orlando. He's a professor of chemistry and physics and a co-founder of the Center for Space Technology and Research.
It's been nearly 50 years since the latest Apollo landing, and the landscape for space exploration is wildly different. Why is NASA's latest mission focused on revisiting the moon?
The space agency's long-awaited Artemis I mission will have to wait until at least Friday, after a problem with one of the SLS rocket's engines was discovered.
NASA's Apollo missions already sent astronauts to the moon from 1969 to 1972. But scientists say there's still lots of good science to do there. The moon also could be an ideal stepping stone to Mars.
NASA's Artemis 1 rocket, the Space Launch System, reached the Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39B on Friday. The successor to the Apollo program could one day send humans back to the moon.
Astronauts hammered collection tubes into the lunar surface on the last Apollo mission to the moon. Now a sample is being carefully pierced open — to be analyzed by today's latest tech.
NASA's leaders say an overly aggressive timeline from the Trump administration and a legal fight over a contract are two reasons why it's altering plans for the Artemis lunar program.
