NASA is counting down to its Artemis 1 uncrewed test flight, which sets the stage for humanity’s return to the moon.
“We are go for launch, which is absolutely outstanding,” Robert Cabana, NASA associate administrator, told reporters at a press conference Monday night. “This day has been a long time coming.”
If the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket successfully launches, shoots its Orion spaceship around the moon, and the spaceship survives the fiery plummet back through Earth’s atmosphere, NASA could be on track to put boots on the lunar surface in 2025 — the first human moon landing since 1972. Eventually, NASA plans to build a permanent base on the moon and mine resources there, before sending astronauts on to Mars.
The rocket is sitting on Launchpad 39B at Kennedy Space Center, after being rolled out last week. Space agency officials say liftoff is scheduled for Monday, August 29, during a two-hour window that opens at 8:33 a.m. ET.
Watch the launch live on NASA’s broadcast below, starting when technicians begin filling the rocket with fuel at midnight. NASA plans to keep broadcasting until about 5:30 p.m., when the Orion spacecraft is set to beam back its first imagery of Earth.
Two backup windows are also available on September 2 and September 5, if any last-minute technical issues or weather delays arise. More than 100,000 visitors are expected to gather near NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, to view the inaugural launch.
In a bid to return astronauts to the lunar surface for the first time since 1972, NASA has spent 17 years and an estimated $50 billion developing the SLS rocket and its Orion spaceship, according to The Planetary Society.
The bright new SLS rocket stands taller than the Statue of Liberty, at 23 stories, with the spaceship secured up top. Four car-sized engines and two rocket boosters should give it enough thrust to push through the thickest parts of the atmosphere. If everything goes smoothly, Orion will clock a total distance of approximately 1.3 million miles over 42 days. It will zip as close as 60 miles above the lunar surface, allowing lunar gravity to sling it 40,000 miles past the moon before heading back to Earth for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean in October.
Scientists will assess how future astronauts will experience the stresses of space by measuring how much cosmic radiation mannequins aboard the Orion capsule endured during the test flight. The mission will also launch several CubeSats, or miniature satellites, with science missions.
However, NASA’s main goal with Artemis I is to test every function of the launch and spaceflight system — including Orion’s communication and navigation systems and its heat shield, which must withstand a fiery plummet through Earth’s atmosphere at 25,000 miles per hour at temperatures reaching 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit — before risking human lives in future missions.
If the uncrewed Orion spaceship makes it around the moon and back without a hitch, the Artemis II mission will carry astronauts on a similar roundabout. The Artemis III mission aims to put humans on the moon in 2025.
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