As humanity prepares to land on the moon in future Artemis missions, NASA's combustion tests will be critical to assuring astronaut safety.

The space rock is expected to make its closest approach at around 848,000 miles from the Earth, according to NASA.

NASA's Artemis II crew has successfully returned to Earth after a 10-day mission — the furthest humans have traveled from Earth since Apollo 17 in 1972 — bringing back critical data on deep-space radiation,

Now that the Artemis II astronauts are safely home from their moon mission, NASA is investigating how well its spacecraft's heat shield protected the crew during their return.

NASA says of Apophis passing by that it is likely "an event like this has not happened at any time in recorded human history."

People on the ground in the Eastern Hemisphere will be able to observe the asteroid with their own eyes, weather permitting, according to NASA.

Even in space, we love to make our friends laugh.

The four-person Artemis II crew returned to Earth on Friday, bringing home a vast wealth of research for scientists to explore. The crew, featuring astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina