A 10-year-old’s passion for Pluto has caught the attention of NASA thanks to a compelling, viral letter on social media.

The end of the historic Artemis II mission kicks off a race to establish a permanent human presence on the moon.

Following Wednesday evening’s launch, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman quipped about the long break in human flights to the Moon since Apollo 17. “After a brief 54-year intermission, NASA is back in the business of sending astronauts to the Moon,” he said at a post-launch news conference.

NASA's powerful Launch Abort System, designed to outrun an exploding rocket, is the result of years of work from scientists and engineers across the country, including in Southern California's Mojave Desert.

The Artemis II mission reached a happy conclusion with the safe return of its four brave crew members.

But so far, it’s looking like the rocket and spaceship needed for a lunar landing are getting there for NASA. The biggest remaining piece of the architecture, therefore, is a lunar lander. Known in NASA parlance as the Human Landing System,