NASA’s upcoming Artemis II flight will be the first crewed lunar mission in over 50 years, but it will not land on the moon. Here’s why.

NASA approaches the next phase of its deep space return program. Artemis 2 will be the first crewed mission to the Moon since Apollo 17 in 1972 and will serve as a critical test for new technologies.

As the oldest astronaut Buzz Aldrin turns 96, the astronauts of Artemis II wish him happy birthday and talk about their Apollo inspirations.

China's Chang'e-6 mission landed on the moon’s South Pole-Aitken Basin, according to the China National Space Administration (CNSA). Credit: Space.com | footage courtesy: China National Space Administ

As lunar missions increase, scientists warn that spacecraft exhaust may contaminate sensitive regions of the moon faster than expected.

On the other were two more figures in space suits, with the tiniest Stars and Stripes planted in the lunar soil. Cruz apologized for the imbalance. “My team used ChatGPT,” explained the senator, who chairs the committee that oversees NASA.

A supercomputer simulation of the Apollo 12 landing on the moon was created to "improve its understanding of plume-surface interactions," according to NASA. Credit: Patrick Moran, NASA Ames Research Center/Andrew Weaver,