For 30 years, the commander of Artemis II, Reid Wiseman, and one of his oldest friends have been playing a game. They compete to see who can be the last to leave the other with the letter F (standing in for the start of a four-letter expletive) followed by the letter Y (standing in for the word “you.”)

A key engine burn Thursday is expected to put NASA's Artemis II astronauts on an irreversible path around the moon.

The four astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft are heading to the Moon after completing the critical engine burn that propels the capsule on its journey.

The Artemis II astronauts, after saying goodbye to family and friends, were strapped into their seats aboard the Orion spacecraft by early afternoon, hours before the launch window opened at 6:24 p.m. Eastern time. As the astronauts sat, NASA continued with checks to ensure the safety of the crew before liftoff.

With a rapidly changing Earth, real-time information has become increasingly important. Google's Earth Engine has increased the accessibility of global scale analyses utilizing their geospatial data processing & analysis platform. Researchers worldwide ...

CNN affiliate KCBS/KCAL’s Hunter Sowards has the story.