The university’s researchers work on topics ranging from the impacts of space exploration on the human body to developing food for astronauts.

To break the distance record that the Artemis II crew set, it will be necessary for young Americans to develop a passion for space exploration

The astronauts aboard NASA’s Artemis II mission flew farther from Earth than anyone in history and laid the first human eyes on much of the moon’s far side. Their Orion spacecraft made its flyby this past week with the most diverse crew to get an unprecedented look at the lunar side that always faces away from Earth.

When Artemis II splashed down Friday evening, it brought back a wealth of information and inspiration. The mission, largely viewed as a test flight, had a lot riding on it as NASA ramps up its work on the pursuit to Mars. Richard Binzel is a planetary science professor at MIT and has decades of knowledge in space exploration.

Americans’ opinion of space exploration is pretty high.

There seems to be something of a “been there, done that” impression this time, a sense that the American public wasn’t “sold” in advance on the Artemis objectives. In terms of public interest, space flight seems to be losing out to college basketball.

The Artemis 2 crew captured a spellbinding photo of the crescent Earth shining above the moon's horizon on Flight Day 6 of their mission, shortly before our planet was lost behind the lunar horizon. White clouds can be seen swirling on Earth's sunlit arc above the line separating night from day while the cratered expanse of the lunar disk stretches out below.