NASA

The Artemis II astronauts are readjusting to life on Earth after their historic mission around the moon.

As NASA’s Artimis ll is orbiting around the moon and will soon head back to Earth, there are lots of questions about what is next for humanity and space exploration. A permanent moon base is planned and then explorations of Mars. But how realistic are these ambitious plans?

Retired Air Force colonel and NASA astronaut Eileen Collins and filmmaker Hannah Berryman talk about the new documentary Spacewoman.

The mission marks the first time in more than 50 years that humans are attempting to travel to the moon.

As the United States’ space program is heading back to the moon — we hear from Eileen Collins — a retired NASA astronaut. Collins was the first woman to pilot the Space Shuttle and the first to command a Space Shuttle mission. A new documentary “Spacewoman” tells the story of this NASA pioneer. She tells us about her time in space and what the future might hold for space exploration.

NASA's Artemis II mission lifted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 6:35 p.m. Eastern Wednesday. The mission aims to send four astronauts around the moon on a roughly 10-day journey.

On Wednesday, the crew of NASA's Artemis II could blast off on a mission around the moon and back. No astronaut has ventured out to the moon since the 1970s.

Eileen Collins was the first woman to pilot a space craft. A new documentary charts her path to the stars. NPR's Scott Simon talks to Collins and film director Hannah Berryman.

A six-day launch window opens on April 1 from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The lunar orbital mission would be the first time humans have returned to the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972.

Forty years after the Challenger disaster, NPR explores the engineers' last-minute efforts to stop the launch, their decades of guilt and the vital lessons that remain critical for NASA today.