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The Artemis space program is sending four
astronauts on a loop around the moon

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It's a program that began during Donald Trump's
first administration. For the first time since 1970

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And it will be the first crewed mission
to the moon in more than 50 years

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Over 10 days, its crew will study their own
health in the harsh weightlessness of space

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and photograph the moon from a few hundred kilometers away. The
mission aims to prove the journey can be practical for humans

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and eventually can land people on the
moon again, a goal China is also pursuing

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Artemis is a U.S. project with international support.
Europe, Japan, the United Arab Emirates are all involved

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Canada built a robotic arm and gave it an astronaut. The
moon holds few guaranteed resources or security advantages

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It is a possible source for a fuel
that could drive future nuclear power

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but it could be a stepping stone to explore the solar
system. The moon has always been a distant prize

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The Soviet Union took the first
photo of it from space in 1959

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And then in the late 1960s, the United States
and the Soviet Union raced to land their robots

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and put their satellites into its orbit.
But all of that was just the beginning

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Over four wild years 12 humans bounced and drove across its surface And then the moon was quiet for decades
until the early 2000s when a new space race kicked off Major powers sent more probes China landed six

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and sent pieces of the moon back to Earth. And
now private companies are getting there too

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70 years of lunar exploration, roughly divided into two chapters. The U.S. space
agency NASA has had a tumultuous year. The White House Budget Office proposed

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major cuts, but the Congress voted to maintain
funding. Staff departures have been high

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In March, Administrator Jared Isaacman promised
to build a U.S. moon base within the next seven

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years for $20 billion. The request came days
after media reports said the Pentagon wanted

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$200 billion to fund the Iran war. The
vehicle's ready, the system is ready

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the crew is ready, and behind this flight
stands a campaign. Landings, a lunar base

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a nuclear propulsion into deep space, that begins,
not ends, with what happens on Wednesday evening

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If the mission succeeds, these four
astronauts will go farther from home

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than any humans before them,
around the far side of the moon

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They'll be blocked from all communication from
Earth while they're there. And for a few hours

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they'll be totally cut off from the
world below. Then they'll return to it

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to splash down in the Pacific
Ocean. Colin Baker, Al Jazeera