NASA is about to send humans on a flight around the moon

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: WTOP

NASA is about to send humans on a flight around the moon

Michelle Basch | [e-mail]
March 27, 2026, 4:25 PM


(1/2)

Four astronauts are set to blast off next week on NASA’s first human moon mission in 53 years called Artemis II.

NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, along with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, will take a 10-day trip around the moon, without landing.

“For the first time since 1972, humans will be far away from the Earth,” Noah Petro, project scientist on the first Artemis Lunar Surface Science Team told WTOP. He’s also a research scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Artemis II will be the first crewed test of NASA’s huge Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft. It was tested without a crew during the Artemis I mission in 2022.

{snip}

Michelle Basch
Michelle Basch is a reporter turned morning anchor at WTOP News.
[e-mail]
@MBaschWTOP

Read more: https://wtop.com/science/2026/03/nasa-is-about-to-send-humans-on-a-flight-around-the-moon/

[Martin68]

1. In the present chaotic environment with absolutely no accountability I fear for the safety of anybody who participates

in this program.

[Bayard]

2. Hard to believe the funding hasn't been cut for any space programs

[LudwigPastorius]

3. Umm...about that heat shield...

[QueerDuck]

4. What a fucking waste of money. Send robots and probes instead...

... assuming that there's something to be learned from the moon still.

[Wonder Why]

7. Wrong! Send government pedophiles, clowns and grifters. Then there is no need to worry about a disaster.

[Vinca]

5. I'm really nervous about this one. Several weeks ago I read an article about some of the people working on

the spacecraft being very nervous about the heat tiles. Their concerns were being ignored. I have no idea if, in the interim, anything was done to remedy the situation. I sure hope so.

[electric_blue68]

9. Uh oh. Hopefully fixed.

[vanamonde]

14. The past does not repeat itself, but it rhymes.

Forty years and three months ago today the Space Shuttle Challenger blew up because of solid rocket booster o-ring seals that failed in the freezing temperatures at launch. Morton-Thiokol engineers warned the o-rings had not been tested below 53 degrees and likely would become brittle and fail. NASA managers ignored the warnings.

https://reverseengineered.substack.com/p/the-challenger-disaster-how-a-faulty

[travelingthrulife]

6. I hope it is Elon and Thiel.

[republianmushroom]

8. Could be a longer flight.

Who built the rocket ship ?

[LudwigPastorius]

10. The good old MIC.

Lockheed, Northrop, and Boeing, primarily.

[Bengus81]

11. Yawn...been there done that over and over and over

Fix health care for starters and a dozen other things then maybe..........

[Mysterian]

12. Yep. Difficult to get excited about the space program

when the people programs here in the USA are busted and broken.

[thought crime]

13. Did we ever think we would see this happen in our lifetimes?

Well, I guess it depends how old you are.

[hunter]

15. I hope it's an uneventful replay of Apollo 8...

... and they get some good pictures.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_8