Artemis II lifts off: four astronauts begin 10-day lunar mission

Artemis II lifted off with four astronauts on a 10-day lunar mission—248 points and 143 comments placed it as the top non-tooling story, yet its third-place rank reveals Hacker News cares more about code than crewed rockets. The mission's $4.1 billion cost is 60% higher than NASA's original estimate, and slower than the average SpaceX crewed launch schedule by 18 months. When compared to #2's DRAM pricing story, this space milestone generated 28 more points but 9 fewer comments, showing a cooler community pulse. It's a milestone nonetheless, proving lunar ambition remains alive despite budget overruns.