By Joey Roulette and Steve Gorman CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida, April 1 (Reuters) - Four astronauts blasted off from Florida on Wednesday on NASA's Artemis II mission, a high-stakes voyage around the moon that marks the United States' boldest step yet toward returning humans to the lunar surface later this decade in a race with China.

NASA's Artemis II mission lifted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 6:35 p.m. Eastern Wednesday. The mission aims to send four astronauts around the moon on a roughly 10-day journey.

Wembanyama has shown interest in aeronautical science and cosmology, visiting NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston last offseason.

Victor Glover, Jeremy Hansen, Reid Wiseman and Christina Koch's mission is partly intended to pave the way for a future lunar landing in the coming years.

Stockton native and former NASA astronaut José Hernández has an inspiring story: he went from being a migrant farmworker to flying on Space Shuttle Discovery in 2009

NASA’s powerful Launch Abort System — literally designed to outrun the debris from an exploding rocket and save the lives of astronauts should something go wrong during launch — is the result of years of work from scientists and engineers across the country,

CSA astronaut Jenni Gibbons, Canada's official backup, will serve as Artemis capcom from ground control, assisting the crew throughout the flight. The involvement of two Canadian astronauts in this endeavour underscores a proud national milestone,