NASA's Artemis II Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft aim to test technologies needed to one day send humans to Mars, a far more distant journey

NASA's Artemis II Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft aim to test technologies needed to one day send humans to Mars, a far more distant journey

NASA began its two-day countdown Monday ahead of what is slated to be its first crewed moonshot in more than half a century, a long-anticipated loop around Earth's satellite that is to pave the way for future exploration.

The first window to launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida opens Wednesday, April 1 at 6:24 pm (2224 GMT), and NASA officials said the countdown began at 4:44 pm.

Originally published on doc.afp.com, part of the BLOX Digital Content Exchange.

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