Apollo Astronauts

Years late and billions over budget, 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, 50 years after NASA's famed Apollo moonshots. If all goes well, astronauts could strap in as soon as 2024 for a lap around the moon, with NASA aiming to land two people on the lunar surface by the end of 2025. Liftoff is set for Monday morning from NASA's Kennedy Space Center. The six-week test flight is risky and could be cut short if something fails, NASA officials warn. We're going to stress it and test it. We're going make it do things that we would never do with a crew on it in order to try to make it as safe as possible, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson told The Associated Press on Wednesday. The retired founder of George Washington University's space policy institute said a lot is riding on this trial run. Spiraling costs and long gaps betwe

In pictures: All you need to know about NASA's Lunar Loo Challenge

NASA is offering $35,000 as a cash reward to people for engineering the best 'lunar loo' design. All the submissions for the challenge should be made by August 17

President John F. Kennedy announced that a national goal for the decade was to send a man to the Moon and back safely

For centuries, the dream of human travel into the cosmos has fired imaginations

Delp found that 43 per cent of the deceased astronauts died from a cardiovascular problem