NASA has completed preparation of the Orion megarocket for launch to the Moon

NASA, the American space agency, has completed the preparation of the Orion mega-rocket with the SLS launch vehicle for the first crewed lunar mission of the Artemis program. The agency reported this on its social media page on X.

"Only a few weeks remain until the launch of the second Artemis II mission, during which we will send astronauts around the Moon - farther than any crew has ever traveled," the publication states.

NASA clarified that four astronauts will embark on a ten-day journey around the Moon to test systems that will allow people to return to the lunar surface in the future as part of the Artemis III mission.

Additionally, the crew will test the Orion spacecraft systems: manual control and capsule landing. The astronauts will also serve as test subjects for deep space medical research, NASA noted.

The first phase of the Artemis lunar mission, which included a flight, lasted just under 26 days - the heavy SLS rocket with the Orion spacecraft was launched from Cape Canaveral on November 16, 2022, marking the first launch to the Earth's satellite in 50 years of a spacecraft capable of carrying humans.

The Artemis program was approved in 2017, while the Orion crewed spacecraft itself was developed in the early 2000s for the previous US lunar mission, Constellation.