To the Moon, Alice: NASA plans to launch an unmanned rocket to the moon as early as 8:33 Eastern time this morning, depending on conditions. Engineers were racing this morning to fix a problem that could delay the launch.

  This spacecraft Orion will swing around the moon and return to Earth to discover any issues with the system before putting astronauts on board. It is the first step toward putting humans back on the moon.

  The new moon program is named Artemis, in Greek mythology the twin sister of Apollo, which was also the name of the first manned moon program. 

  The $100 billion program has come under some criticism because we’ve already been to the moon. “It’s a future where NASA will land the first woman and the first person of color on the moon,” Bill Nelson, the NASA administrator, said during a news conference this month. “And on these increasingly complex missions, astronauts will live and work in deep space and will develop the science and technology to send the first humans to Mars.”

Trump World: While the Justice Department evaluates a possible criminal case, US intelligence officials plan to review the possible risks to national security created by former President Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.

  But this case, the array of people who can see the documents might be widening. A federal judge in Florida indicated over the weekend that it is her “preliminary intent” to appoint an independent arbiter, otherwise known as a “special master,” to look at the secret documents seized by the FBI at Mar-a-Lago.

  Judge Aileen Cannon of the Southern District of Florida, who was appointed by Trump, didn’t give an actual order, but signaled that she is inclined to go along with Trump’s request for the special master to weed out documents taken in the search that could be protected by executive privilege. She set a hearing for Thursday.

  On top of it all, Attorney Gen. Merrick Garland is faced with the prospect of having to charge a former president with crimes.

Record Keeping: The National Archives, the agency behind the effort to retrieve the documents from Donald Trump, has become the target of both vitriol and praise from the public. In particular it’s been accused of acting on partisan motives by devoted associates of Trump.

  All presidential records have been preserved since the final days of Richard Nixon, who planned to destroy evidence of the Watergate scandal, including the infamous Oval Office audio tapes.  Now, all written communications related to a president’s official duties including memos, letters, notes, emails, faxes, and other material must be turned over to the Archives.

  Debra Steidel Wall, the director of the Archives, wrote in an email to her staff,  “NARA has received messages from the public accusing us of corruption and conspiring against the former President, or congratulating NARA for ‘bringing him down.’ Neither is accurate or welcome.”

The Shooting Gallery: A Dutch commando who was in the US for training exercises has died after being shot outside an Indianapolis hotel while off-duty. Two other Dutch soldiers are in the hospital with wounds. 

  It was a weekend of violence around the country. Two people died in a shooting at a grocery store Sunday in Bend, Oregon. The shooter was also dead at the scene.

  In Houston, three people were killed and two injured early Sunday after a man set fire to a building and then shot at people getting out.

  In New York City, police are searching for a gunman after a shooting at New York City’s Coney Island boardwalk left one man dead and four others injured Saturday night.

The Spin Rack: Two US warships are passing through the Taiwan Strait, the US Navy announced. It’s to let China know they don’t own it. — The Buffalo Bills released rookie punter Matt Araiza, the “Punt God,” a week after the filing of a lawsuit that accuses him of being involved in the gang rape of a 17-year-old girl while he was still in college at San Diego State. Brandon Beane, the team’s general manager said, “We just decided that the most important thing is this is not about football, it’s about letting Matt go handle this.”   — Texas gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke is off the campaign trail for a while with a bacterial infection. — The ashes of the late actress Nichelle Nichols, who played Lieutenant Uhura in the original “Star Trek” television series and was one of the first black actresses with a leading role on television, will be launched into space by a private company later this year. Also on board will be the ashes of the show’s creator, Gene Roddenberry.

Funny Man: Jared Kushner, former President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, said during a livestream last week that he was keeping trim in the event that medical science allows him to “live forever.”

  Kushner said, “I think that there’s a good probability that my generation is, hopefully with the advances in science, is either the first generation to live forever or the last generation that’s going to die,” Kushner said. “So we need to keep ourselves in pretty good shape.”

  Editorial Note: Try to imagine a world in which Jared Kushner lives forever admiring Donald Trump, and also ask yourself, “When have I ever heard Jared Kushner be funny?”

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