NASA is leading the way to the Moon, but the military won't be far behind

An Air Force rescue team is on standby to rapidly deploy and retrieve the Artemis II astronauts if there's an in-flight abort. Assuming everything goes well, the Navy has the charge of recovering the Orion spacecraft and its four astronauts at the end of their nine-day flight around the Moon.

These responsibilities are nothing new to the military. The Space Force oversees public safety for every launch from Florida's Space Coast, whether it's a military or civilian mission. The Air Force has a long history of providing rescue support for NASA human spaceflight missions, and the Navy scooped up the Apollo astronauts when they returned from the Moon more than 50 years ago.

Artemis II, the first crew mission to the Moon's vicinity since 1972, is set for launch Wednesday from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Commander Reid Wiseman and pilot Victor Glover, both Navy test pilots, will be at the controls of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft for the ride to space. NASA astronaut Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen round out the four-person crew.