In 1966, America achieved the extraordinary; they sent the first man to the moon, Neil Armstrong. This was the last time they did any mission directed to the moon with astronauts present. However, this month, on April 1, they launched Artemis II. They chose Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Jermy Hansen and second Mission Specialist Christina Koch to come on the mission. This launch is a fly by of the moon, altogether it is a 10 day mission. During their time, they will take high-grade pictures and explore the moon’s surface. After ten days up in space, they will land in the water off the coast of San Diego. 

“I think it incredible that we are getting back to  a point of exploration of space that we had years ago with the space shuttle program and the saturn series.” Mark Earhardt, space science teacher at OHS.  

This mission is really unique in the fact that it will explore a completely new face of the moon, the side that we can’t see from Earth. In addition, this exploration has astronauts on board, so it’s not solely technological information. 

“So far the some most fascinating stuff to see has been how they have found many different colored surfaces of the moon, like olive-green and brownish hues” Earhardt said