Astronaut sends moon mission good luck message from space

By Dean Murray

A NASA astronaut aboard the International Space Station has wished her Moon-bound colleagues luck with an eye-catching display of mission patches.

Jessica Meir, 48, snapped them against the backdrop of the orbital platform’s iconic cupola windows, with Earth as a backdrop.

She wrote on Monday, March 30: "Our work on the Space Station has provided the foundation to explore further, preparing us to return humans to the Moon this week.

"Stay tuned as we enter the NASA Artemis era! Expedition 74 will certainly be keeping a close watch. Godspeed, Artemis II!"

NASA said on Monday: "The countdown for NASA’s Artemis II test flight is underway at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, with members of the launch team arriving at their consoles inside the Rocco Petrone Launch Control Center.

"The on-site countdown clock started ticking down at 4:44 p.m. EDT to a targeted launch time of 6:24 p.m. on Wednesday, April 1."

Artemis II is the first crewed launch of NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft.