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Fifty years after his Apollo 16 mission to the moon, retired NASA astronaut Charlie Duke says he's ready for the U.S. to get back to lunar exploration. Part of that effort, Duke said Friday, will come in the form of the Artemis program, which includes NASA's upcoming flight to the moon using its new Space Launch System rocket. The first of the huge rockets is supposed to blast off without crew later this year, with crewed flights planned subsequently. "With Artemis, NASA is going to be focused on deep space, to the moon and beyond, and I'm excited about...

It was no accident that Nasa crashed one of its Apollo 16 rocket boosters onto the moon, but the researchers never intended to lose it. In April of 1972, the booster drifted off and was never seen again, unable to transmit tracking data and reveal its whereabouts because of a malfunction. Now, almost 44 years later, the crash site of the Saturn V stage-three booster has finally been located.

Explanation: What would it be like to drive on the Moon? You don't have to guess -- humans have actually done it. Pictured above, Apollo 16 astronauts John Young and Charles Duke recorded video during one such drive in 1972, with a digital version now available on the web. No matter which direction it headed, the Lunar Rover traveled a path literally covered with rocks and craters. The first half of the above video shows the rover zipping about a moonscape near 10 kilometers per hour, while the second half shows a dash-cam like view. The Lunar Rover was deployed...

(NOT: errors are by the creator; I cut and pasted) Flag on the Moon Written by Fraser Cain When the NASA astronauts first landed on the Moon, they left a few items on the surface to commemorate their visit. These items included a plaque, mission badges and an American flag. If you've ever seen images or video of the flag on the Moon, you might have a few questions. Why does the flag stand straight out and not just slump down? Here on Earth, flags are pushed out by the wind. Obviously, there's no wind on the Moon, so what's...

(LRO slewed 19° down-Sun allowing the illuminated side of the still standing American flag to be captured at the Apollo 17 site.) An enduring question ever since the manned moon landings of the 1960s has been: Are the flags planted by the astronauts still standing? Now, lunar scientists say the verdict is in from the latest photos of the moon taken by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC): Most do, in fact, still stand. "From the LROC images it is now certain that the American flags are still standing and casting shadows at all of the sites, except Apollo 11,"...

ROUGEMONT, N.C. -- I have to admit -- I am a space nerd. I've watched "Apollo 13" about 60 times, and "From the Earth to the Moon" about six times. When I worked the AM shift at NBC-17 and I needed a book to put me to sleep at 7 p.m., I found an old textbook at a used bookstore near N.C. State called "The Science of Spaceflight." Boring as heck, but now I know what a Hohmann transfer is, and I can tell you how they mix propulsion elements to send rockets a million miles. Like everyone else, it...