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UW-Madison professor: Artemis II mission moves NASA closer to returning to the moon

NASA has launched its Artemis II mission, sending astronauts around the moon for the first time in more than 50 years — a milestone a University of Wisconsin–Madison expert says could shape the future of human spaceflight.

“There was an old IMAX movie called ‘The Dream is Alive’, narrated by Walter Cronkite about the space shuttle,” said UW–Madison astronomy professor Thomas Beatty. “And I think I watched that a million times with my mom.”

Now, decades later, he’s watching as humans prepare to travel back toward the moon for the first time since the Apollo era.