The Artemis II mission, which could launch as early as Feb. 6, aims to send humans around the moon in preparation for the subsequent Artemis III mission that will land astronauts on its surface. This is the first time in more than 50 years that NASA is sending humans back to the moon, and the first time that a woman will be part of the crew.

Forty years ago today, disaster struck NASA’s human spaceflight program when the space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after blastoff, killing all seven people onboard. The tragedy nearly brought the shuttle program to an early end.