CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.—NASA’s new moon rocket blasted off on its debut flight with three test dummies aboard Wednesday, bringing the United States a big step closer to putting astronauts back on the lunar surface for the first time since the end of the Apollo program 50 years ago.
If all goes well during the three-week flight, the crew capsule will be propelled into a wide orbit around the moon and then return to Earth with a Pacific splashdown in December.
