Artemis Two Blasts Off: First Crewed Moon Mission in 50 Years

0:00It's April 1st. Welcome to Adelaide News Today, powered by AI. I'm Cory with the story. Tomorrow, around 6.24pm eastern time, NASA's Artemis 2 mission blasts off from Florida Space Coast, sending four astronauts on the first crew trip toward the moon since Apollo 17 back in 1972. Up to 400,000 folks are expected to pack the beaches for this fiery show, marking humanity's return to deep space after 54. The crew includes Commander Reed Weizmann, plus NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Victor Glover and Canadian Jeremy Hansen. Cock becomes the first woman in cis lunar space, Glover, the first person of color, and Hansen the first non-American to venture there. Their 10-day fly-by won't land, but could smash the distance record from Apollo 13, pushing over 250,000 miles from Earth. Excitement is sky high along Cape Canaveral, with hotels booked solid amid spring breakers, though the program's years behind schedule

1:02and billions. Over budget, crew members play down diversity milestones, focusing instead on equal chances for dreamers everywhere, even as NASA shifted away from those emphases. Under recent orders, this test run photographs the moon's south pole for future landings, that's life-support gear, and studies radiation effects in the cramped Orion, saying, capsule, about the size of a small campervan, engineers fixed past heat shield and leak issues, setting up Artemis 4's crude landing in 2028 and a $20 billion moon. Based by decades in, with 80% favorable weather odds and backup nights ready, Artemis 2 lays the groundwork for America, staying on the moon for good watch. Those guys, it's history lifting off.