KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — NASA set Feb. 12, 2022, as the tentative date for the launch of Artemis I, the mission that is expected to eventually take Americans back to the moon.

The 322-foot heavy-lift SLS rocket is now fully stacked with the Orion Crew Capsule inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center.

This sets the stage for the first mission of the space agency's next generation spacecraft that will send astronauts back to the moon for the first time in 50 years.

Travis Thompson is your guide through the out of this world collection at the American Space Museum in Titusville.

On Friday, the 30-year shuttle program veteran took the Sok family from Oregon on a tour of the artifacts, many one-of-a-kind, spanning from the beginnings of the U.S. space program.

"This is the foundation, and we're going back to the moon again. One of them said, 'if we ever go to the moon again you need duct tape'," said Thompson. "Those are things you can't forget."

Each step, beginning with the Gemini Program in the early 1960s, got the country closer to the lunar surface, including the shuttle program's successes and tragedies.

Kate Sok said she's learned that lessons from the past are the only way to explore places like the moon and beyond.

"It's amazing — you don't think of all the detail," Sok said. "I'm really excited to see what the future holds for it."

For Thompson, he believes humans are "suited" to be curious about the unknown, and Artemis is the way.

"I think we need to keep that vision, and keep traveling and exploring," Thompson said.

Artemis I will be an unmanned mission. If successful, the goal is to launch a four-person crew on Artemis II to orbit the moon.

After that astronauts will launch on Artemis III to the moon and land on the lunar surface by 2024.