KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Florida — The US military has always been part of NASA’s human spaceflight program. The first astronauts were nearly all military pilots, and two of the four crew members set to fly around the Moon on NASA’s Artemis II mission were Navy test pilots before joining the astronaut corps.

Through 2030, governments and private entities have planned more than 400 missions in the next two decades to fly past or circle the moon or to land crewed or uncrewed spacecraft there, according to a count by the European Space Agency.

The next U.S. trip to the moon isn't about planting a flag. It's about learning how to live and work there. NASA has just reset its Artemis program, marking a clear strategic shift: Space exploration is moving away from a race to achieve milestones and toward a system built on repeated operations,

Attached to the Orion spacecraft is a key piece of technology developed over decades in Lexington, Massachusetts.

The crew, who are accomplished pilots, engineers and scientists, reveal their hopes, fears and family sacrifices.

Victor Glover has spent a lifetime building the experience that now prepares him to help lead humanity’s return to the Moon and demonstrate how humans can live and work in deep space.

The mission will be the first time astronauts circle the moon in decades — and this time they’ve got a Mustang with them.

The official moment that the moon will turn full is 10:12 p.m. EDT. Interestingly, at the instant of that full moon, its position in the sky will place it about a dozen degrees to