Depending on the timing, NASA could launch a fresh crew to the space station while four other astronauts are flying around the moon.

NASA isn’t building a space station around the Moon by accident. The Gateway project, combined with SLS and Artemis, is part of a long-term strategy to extend human presence beyond Earth and prepare for deeper space missions.

After more than five months in space, four astronauts on a mission known as Crew-11 are about to cut their mission short and return to Earth.

Buzz Aldrin, the second man and only one of 12 to ever walk on the moon, turns 96 today. He's just one of four living moonwalkers and the oldest remaining astronaut still making trips around the sun.

Astronauts orbiting the Earth are drilled to deal with the worst possible scenarios. That includes having to leave a doomed space station – quickly.

The International Space Station is the largest space outpost ever built, but it's not the only one up there and there a more on the way soon.

Crew 11 is expected to splash down off the coast of Southern California at 3:41 a.m., closing out a 167-day stay in space.

Four astronauts returned to Earth early Thursday morning after leaving the International Space Station a month early because of a medical issue.