The first human moon mission in over 50 years is likely to launch this week, with the Artemis II rocket and crew in place at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Artemis 2 crew members, from left, Mission Spc. Jeremy Hansen, of Canada, Mission Spc. Christina Koch, Commander Reid Wiseman, and Pilot Victor Glover pose for a photo after the crew's arrival at the Kennedy Space Center Friday, March 27, 2026, in Cape Canaveral, Fla.
rocket and crew in place at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and NASA saying Monday that the forecast shows an 80% chance of favorable weather conditions.Earlier launches were scrubbed because of technical problems. For example, a "wet dress rehearsal," a prelaunch test to fuel the rocket, was terminated a couple of months ago because of a liquid hydrogen “What we've heard from NASA is that they're all good to go, barring the weather,” said Kenny Evans, a fellow in science, technology and innovation policy at Rice University. “So, they seem optimistic, which makes me optimistic. I think they've solved their technical challenges on the ground in the interim.” Amit Kshatriya, NASA’s associate administrator, said at a Monday evening news conference that they had just wrapped up a mission management team review and the team “pulled go” to proceed towards a Wednesday lift-off. Kshatriya said they walked through the usual readiness items – vehicle status, ground systems, flight hardware, the integrated launch operations timeline, and more – and everything continued to look good for launch. “I have complete confidence in this team and the NASA workforce,” Kshatriya said. “For everybody else, 53 years ago, humanity left the moon and did not return. Now we go back.” Emily Nelson, the chief flight director, said the crew and mission control team have spent two years working toward this day. And Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, the launch director, ticked off all the prep work that had been done to reach the point of launch countdown operations.said that Artemis II is “historic for many reasons,” marking the first time humans will travel to the moon’s vicinity in decades and demonstrating that NASA can safely send astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit and bring them home.When Artemis II astronauts blast off, they’ll begin a 10-day mission that will take them the farthest humans have been from Earth since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. Evans said Artemis II serves several broader purposes, including technical validation of the key systems needed for future missions.And it’s a way to restore public excitement and confidence in NASA’s human spaceflight program.NASA Artemis II is rolled from the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA Kennedy Space Center on March 20, 2026, in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The crew includes three Americans and one Canadian: mission commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen. They’ll test critical spacecraft systems in Earth’s orbit, such as manual piloting capabilities and communication and navigation systems, before continuing on a flyby around the far side of the moon. The astronauts will travel about 4,600 miles beyond the far side of the moon, with the moon about the size of a basketball held at arm’s length from the crew’s vantage point aboard the Orion spacecraft and Earth about 250,000 miles in the background, according to NASA. An artist's concept depicts the nominal trajectory for NASA’s Artemis II test flight, an approximately 10-day mission that will send four astronauts around the Moon and back. And NASA said they’ll take a fuel-efficient “free return” trajectory home, leveraging the Earth-moon gravity field before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean.Washington County Sheriff Nate Brooksby submitted his resignation and announced his retirement late last week.The Washington County Sheriff's Office said BrookA police incident has closed southbound I-215 near 4700 South in Taylorsville on Sunday evening.According to the Utah Highway Patrol, a vehicle fled from policeThe Washington County District Attorney’s Office said Sheriff Nate Brooksby submitted his resignation hours after meeting with the commissioners’ office to addrA 59-year-old driver was flown to a local area hospital in serious condition after a crash with a semi-truck on Interstate 70 near the Colorado border.The crasPassengers on a Delta Air Lines flight departing Salt Lake City said their plane was held on the tarmac for nearly an hour to wait for a late-arriving passenger
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