NASA returns to the moon! Artemis 2 countdown begins

More than 50 years after its lunar era, NASA’s new campaign is set to take off on Wednesday. 

The Artemis II is set to blast off at 6.22 pm ET (12.22 am South African time) following months of delays.

If all goes as scheduled, four astronauts, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen, will go on a 10-day journey, circling the moon in a spacecraft the size of a minibus.

The mission will depart from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The Artemis I mission took place in 2022 without a crew for a 25-day mission around the moon.

Plans for the Artemis III mission have already been overhauled by NASA, with a crew set to test docking with a lunar lander in 2027.

To listen to world news correspondent Adam Gilchrist discuss this story with 702’s Bongani Bingwa, use the audio player below (skip to 3.58):