CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA’s new moon rocket makes its debut next week in a high-stakes test flight before astronauts get on top. The 322-foot rocket will attempt to send an empty crew capsule into a far-flung lunar orbit. If all goes well, astronauts could strap in as soon as 2024. Liftoff from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center is set for Monday morning.
The launch comes 50 years after NASA’s famed Apollo moonshots.
The price tag for this single mission exceeds $4 billion. The entire program will have set NASA back $93 billion by the time astronauts are back on the moon.
