This time next year, if everything stays on schedule, NASA will send its first crewed mission to the moon, since the end of the Apollo program. Artemis II will be the first flight around the moon in more than 50 years.
Its goal will be to test out the Orion capsule and all the other equipment, so that by 2026, Artemis III can put astronauts back ON the moon.
The Artemis program is aimed to kickstart a new, more enduring era of space travel that leads to Mars.It's also intentionally more representative than Apollo was. The Artemis program will eventually put the first woman on the moon, as well as the first person of color.
It's all as historic and high stakes as it gets, and also pretty daunting.
NPR's Scott Detrow goes behind the scenes at the Johnson Space Center in Houston to see how the team is preparing.
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NASA prepares to head back to the moon.
Astronaut Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin Jr. is photographed by Astronaut Neil Armstrong during man's first landing on the Moon more than fifty years ago. NASA is preparing to send the first crewed mission to the moon, since the end of the Apollo program. Photo by NASA - Getty Images
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