![\"Astronaut](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/skynews-jeremy-hansen-nasa_7030677.png\")
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Image:
\n Astronaut Jeremy Hansen. Pic: NASA<\/p>\n
It will be the first time that humans have looped around the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972.<\/p>\n
NASA had delayed the launch because a test flight without humans on board in 2022 resulted in significant damage to the heatshield that protects the capsule as it re-enters the Earth’s atmosphere.<\/p>\n
The space agency is now satisfied that engineering upgrades have fixed the problem and the Orion crew capsule is safe to fly.<\/p>\n
Mission commander Reid Wiseman said the crew were confident in the technology.<\/p>\n
“When I get into Orion, it’s like climbing into my bed,” he said.<\/p>\n
“I feel warm and tucked in.”<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/skynews-moon-mission-nasa_7029942.jpg\")
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2:25<\/p>\n
Countdown on for moon mission<\/p>\n
The crew’s trajectory around the moon will take them 5,000 miles above the surface.<\/p>\n
But they will pass over the far side of the moon, which always faces away from Earth.<\/p>\n
Christina Koch, who could become the first female astronaut to head beyond Earth’s orbit, said it would be a special moment.<\/p>\n
“We could see parts of the moon that never have had human eyes lay upon them before,” she said.<\/p>\n
“Human eyes are one of the best scientific instruments that we have and our geologists are beyond excited for our eyes to look at the moon. And we’ve been training how to turn those observations into tangible science for them.”<\/p>\n
In the 1960s, the space race was with the Soviet Union. America won, the first to plant a flag.<\/p>\n
Read more: But growing evidence that there could be substantial quantities of frozen water on the moon has started a new space race, this time between the US and China.<\/p>\n Water would provide hydration for astronauts exploring and potentially mining minerals from a permanent moon base.<\/p>\n Splitting the water molecule, H2O, into hydrogen and oxygen would also provide air to breathe and the ingredients for rocket fuel.<\/p>\n The return of Mr Trump to the White House and an accelerated Chinese space programme has made the space race 2.0 more intense.<\/p>\n China has already beaten the US to land a spacecraft on the far side of the moon. And it plans to land taikonauts on the surface by 2030.<\/p>\n There is an Outer Space Treaty which means no country can make a territorial claim to a celestial body.<\/p>\n But Bleddyn Bowen, professor of astropolitics at Durham University, said it matters which nation reaches the surface first because they’ll be able to influence ground rules.<\/p>\n “If China is to sustain a significant presence on the moon in the century to come, I would expect the United States and India, and perhaps Europe as well, to do something similar,” he said.<\/p>\n “They’ll say: ‘Hey, don’t forget about us, we’re here as well. And if you want to develop rules and best practices in space, you can’t do it without us.'”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The first astronauts due to be sent to the moon in more than 50 years have told Sky…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35901,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[85,46,141,145],"class_list":["post-35900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35900"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35900\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Man banned from every Boots store<\/a>
Gene therapy slows progression of Huntington’s disease<\/a><\/p>\n