NASA to send a man(nequin) to the moon

NASA is planning to launch an almost-manned spacecraft to the moon as early as Aug. 29. If all goes well, the agency will send real men around the moon in 2023 and attempt a lunar landing in 2025 for the first time since the 1972 Apollo 17 mission. The rocket is currently at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral. NASA has been repairing it over the past few weeks after a countdown test. But officials said the rocket is repaired and testing is almost finished. 

What’s the mission? NASA said the Artemis I mission is a test of the agency’s deep space exploration systems capabilities. The first launch will send three mannequins 280,000 miles from Earth, past the moon. It will take about three weeks to go out and back, making it the longest time a rocket has gone without docking at a space station. The rocket is 30 stories tall and is attached to the Orion capsule where the dummies will sit. Together, the system is taller than the Statue of Liberty.

Dig deeper: Read Heather Frank’s report in Beginnings about NASA’s new UFO committee.