NASA begins the countdown for humanity’s first launch to the moon in 53 years

**NASA Artemis Moonshot** Photographers setup remote cameras near NASA's Artermis II moon rocket on Launch Pad 39-B at the Kennedy Space Center Sunday, March 29, 2026, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

**Artemis Moonshot-Crew Training** Crew lunar observations lead Sara Schmidt demonstrates software at Johnson Space Center on Thursday, July 24, 2025, in Houston. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

**NASA Artemis Moonshot** NASA's Artermis II moon rocket sits on Launch Pad 39-B at the Kennedy Space Center at sunrise Sunday, March 29, 2026, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/Terry Renna)

**NASA Artemis Moonshot** NASA's Artermis II moon rocket sits on Launch Pad 39-B at the Kennedy Space Center Sunday, March 29, 2026, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

**NASA Artemis Moonshot Countdown** This photo provided by NASA shows NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Artemis II commander, from left, Victor Glover, Artemis II pilot, Christina Koch, Artemis II mission specialist, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, Artemis II mission specialist, right, in a group photograph as they visit NASA's Artemis II SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft, Monday, March 30, 2026, at Launch Complex 39B of NASA's Kennedy Space Center, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (Bill Ingalls/NASA via AP)

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) 鈥� NASA began the countdown Monday for humanity鈥檚 in 53 years.

The 32-story Space Launch System rocket is poised to blast off Wednesday evening with . After a day in orbit around Earth, their Orion capsule will propel them to the moon and back. There are no stops 鈥� just a quick U-turn around the moon. The nearly 10-day flight will end with a splashdown in the Pacific.

鈥淥ur team has worked extremely hard to get us to this moment,鈥� said launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson. “Certainly all indications are right now we are in excellent, excellent shape.鈥�

Managers said the rocket is doing well following the latest round of repairs. Forecasters said the weather should cooperate.

NASA鈥檚 Artemis II mission should have soared in February, but was grounded by hydrogen fuel leaks. The leaks were fixed, but then a helium pressurization line became clogged, forcing a return to the hangar late last month. The rocket 1 1/2 weeks ago, and its on Friday.

Unlike Apollo, which sent only men to the moon from 1968 through 1972, Artemis鈥� debut crew includes a woman, person of color and a non-U.S. citizen.

Artemis II鈥檚 pilot Victor Glover said over the weekend that he wants young people to see them and think, 鈥淕irl power and that鈥檚 awesome, and that young brown boys and girls can look at me and go 鈥楬ey, he looks like me and he鈥檚 doing what???鈥欌€�

At the same time, Glover, who is Black, looks forward to when 鈥漮ne day we don鈥檛 have to talk about these firsts鈥� and exploring the cosmos becomes an all-encompassing 鈥渉uman history.鈥�

NASA has the first six days of April to launch Artemis II before standing down until the end of the month.

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