LOS ANGELES (CNS) – Piloted by a Southern California native, NASA’s Artemis II mission, the first crewed lunar mission in more than 50 years, launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida Wednesday, sending four astronauts on a roughly 10-day journey around the moon and back.
The Orion spacecraft, powered into space by a Space Launch System rocket, launched just after 3:30 p.m. California time, beginning a journey that will carry the astronauts farther from the Earth than any other previous mission. The astronauts will also travel closer to the moon than any human has been in more than a half-century.
Among the astronauts aboard is Victor Glover, who was born in Pomona, attended Ontario High School and graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Serving as pilot of the Orion spacecraft, he is the first person of color to take part in a lunar mission…