Nasa’s first manned mission to the Moon in more than 50 years that will take its crew deeper into space than anyone has gone before is “ready to go”, according to space agency chiefs. The 10-day test flight will see the team fly around the Moon and back on a mammoth 685,000-mile journey. While the astronauts will not touchdown on the Moon, the Artemis II mission paves the way for a future lunar landing within the next couple of years. Now we go back.”Artemis launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson said the countdown to launch started at 4.44pm local time on Monday. The last time Nasa sent astronauts to the Moon was during Apollo 17 in 1972.

Source: Irish Examiner March 31, 2026 12:07 UTC