CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Space agency officials started loading fuel Wednesday into their massive moon-bound rocket, preparing to send four crew members on humanity’s first lunar voyage in more than five decades.
Anxiety filled the air as hydrogen fuel began flowing into the spacecraft hours before the scheduled evening departure. Previous hydrogen leaks had occurred during an earlier countdown rehearsal this year, causing significant delays to the mission timeline.
Ground crews must pump over 700,000 gallons of fuel into the towering 32-story Space Launch System rocket before the Artemis II astronauts can climb aboard for their journey.
Mission commander Reid Wiseman expressed his excitement the night before launch, posting on X: “It is time to fly.” Weather conditions looked promising for the planned departure.
The four-person crew — three from the United States and one from Canada — will travel around the moon without landing or entering orbit, then return directly to Earth for an ocean landing in the Pacific. Their journey will establish a new record for the greatest distance humans have ever traveled from our planet, as they venture roughly 4,000 miles past the moon before turning around.
The last time astronauts journeyed to the moon was during the Apollo 17 mission in 1972.
This Artemis II flight marks the beginning of NASA’s ambitious vision to establish a permanent lunar outpost. Agency officials are targeting a moon landing mission near the south pole by 2028.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman shared his enthusiasm on social media, writing: “The next era of exploration begins.”
Congratulatory messages have already begun arriving, including a special note from England’s King Charles III to Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
Hansen will make history as the first non-American citizen to travel to the moon. The crew also features Christina Koch and Victor Glover, who will become the first woman and first Black astronaut, respectively, to journey toward the moon.
King Charles wrote to Hansen: “In this historic moment, you stand as a bridge between nations and generations, and I commend you for your courage, discipline and vision that have brought you to this threshold.”
