Astronauts head for Moon flyby in 1st manned exploration since Apollo era

A U.S. spacecraft carrying four astronauts was launched Wednesday for a flight around the Moon in the first manned lunar exploration since the Apollo era half a century ago.The astronauts of NASA's Artemis II mission are scheduled to fly on the Orion spaceship for around 10 days, passing the Moon some 380,000 kilometers away before circling its far side and returning to Earth.As the four -- three Americans and one Canadian -- are set to travel far beyond the Moon as part of the flight path, they are likely to surpass the current deep-space record for any human, made by the crew of Apollo 13…READ FULL ARTICLE