CLEVELAND — The launch window is about to open for NASA's Artemis II, a crewed mission that is slated to send astronauts around the moon and back to Earth over 10 days.
Liftoff is set for 6:24 p.m. on Wednesday.
It is the first time a crewed mission has traveled to the moon in 50 years, since Apollo 17 in 1972.
The mission will travel farther into space than humans have ever done before.
Employees at the NASA Glenn Research Center in Northeast Ohio have spent years preparing for the launch.
For Rob Ahlman and Katie Oriti, that meant preparing and testing the Orion capsule, which will house the astronauts.
As News 5 previously reported, the capsule was rigorously tested in Northeast Ohio before and after the Artemis 1 mission.
RELATED: NASA's Orion spacecraft undergoes testing in Northeast Ohio to help astronauts return to the moon
"We’ve been building up and testing the spacecraft, getting it ready to go," Oriti, the manager of the Orion European Service Module Integration Office, said.
"We put it through its paces and made sure all the systems that need to function after a launch abort were to occur, will occur," Ahlman, the deputy systems engineering lead for the Orion Crew and Service Module Office, said.
Artemis II is a major step toward building a base on the moon.
"You can’t ignore the emotion. It’s been a long, arduous road to get here," Oriti said.
"It feels surreal to be this close," Ahlman said.
News 5 asked NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman about it when he visited NASA Glenn in January.
"It is just the opening episode in an extraordinary adventure," Isaacman said. "We owe it to the American people, we owe it to all the pioneers in the 1960s who gave us the foundation to undertake this today."
Watch that interview here:
"Apollo was the first foray to the lunar surface to see if we could do it," Oriti said. "We are going back to stay this time."
The crew includes the first person of color and the first woman to orbit the moon.
"It’s writing history for little girls to show we can do those things too," Oriti said.
Oriti is already in Florida helping support the launch. Ahlman's work begins once the Orion capsule splashes down at the end of its trip. He is taking his family to Florida for the launch, joining thousands of others watching the event.
"This is like a lifelong dream come true for me; this is what I always wanted to do," Ahlman said.
