{"id":67618,"date":"2026-04-03T15:39:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T15:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/astronauts-launch-nasa-lunar-mission-after-blast-off"},"modified":"2026-04-03T16:35:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T16:35:16","slug":"astronauts-launch-nasa-lunar-mission-after-blast-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/astronauts-launch-nasa-lunar-mission-after-blast-off","title":{"rendered":"Astronauts Launch NASA Lunar Mission After Blast-Off"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"ap-article-header-tag\"> <strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Lesotho. <\/strong> <\/span><b>Four astronauts have blasted off aboard a massive NASA rocket, beginning a long-anticipated journey around the Moon, the first crewed lunar flyby in more than 50 years.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The launch from Kennedy Space Center sent an orange-and-white rocket roaring into the evening sky, carrying Americans Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, along with Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen.<\/p>\n<p>The crew is now in orbit around Earth, carrying out critical safety checks on the Orion spacecraft, including complex maneuvers designed to simulate docking with a future lunar lander. Early technical issues, including minor onboard system glitches and a brief communication problem, have been identified and addressed, with officials confirming the crew remains safe and in good condition.<\/p>\n<p>If all goes to plan, the mission will soon push beyond Earth\u2019s orbit on a multi-day journey around the Moon, lasting about 10 days in total. The flight is expected to capture new imagery and data while setting distance records for human space travel.<\/p>\n<p>The mission also marks several historic firsts, including the first woman, first person of color, and first non-American assigned to a lunar mission. It is the inaugural crewed flight of NASA\u2019s Space Launch System rocket, a cornerstone of efforts to return humans to the Moon and eventually establish a long-term presence there.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ap-article-footer-note\">Find more news and analyses on <span class=\"ap-highlight-country\">Lesotho<\/span> on the <span class=\"ap-highlight-brand\">Africa Press<\/span> website<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Lesotho. Four astronauts have blasted off aboard a massive NASA rocket, beginning a long-anticipated journey around the Moon, the first crewed lunar flyby in more than 50 years. The launch from Kennedy Space Center sent an orange-and-white rocket roaring into the evening sky, carrying Americans Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, along with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":67617,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,9],"tags":[7312,245,7311,7313],"class_list":["post-67618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-miscellaneous","tag-50th-moon-landing-anniversary","tag-lesotho","tag-space-adventures","tag-space-exploration"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Astronauts Launch NASA Lunar Mission After Blast-Off - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"-article-header-tag&quot;&gt; Africa-Press - Lesotho. 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