On the eve of the launch of the Artemis mission, NASA’s mega-moon rocket is prepared for takeoff.
Cape Canaveral, Florida NASA’s massive next-generation rocket is scheduled to go on its first test flight on Monday, 50 years after the end of the Apollo era, with launch teams at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida spending the final full day preparing.
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At the beginning of Monday’s two-hour launch window, beginning at 8:33 a.m. EDT (1233 GMT), there was an 80% chance of favourable conditions, declining to 60% toward the end of that time. NASA officials said on Sunday that all systems appeared “go” for liftoff.
NASA has designated September 2 and September 5 as potential backup launch dates in case the countdown clock is stopped for any reason.
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The senior NASA test director for the historic Artemis I mission, Jeff Spaulding, said that “from a vehicle perspective, everything to date looks good.” “We are thrilled. The car is ready, and it looks fantastic. ”
Despite storm-related damage to lightning rods at the launch site on Saturday, Spaulding stated that he had not “seen anything on the ground systems that gives us any concerns.” According to NASA, neither the spacecraft nor the launch pads were harmed.
Unmanned Orion will be launched by the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket on a six-week test flight around the moon and back to evaluate the capabilities of both vehicles before an astronaut-carrying mission is planned for 2024. The centrepiece of the U.S. space agency’s moon programme replacement for the Apollo moon programme of the 1960s and 1970s is the SLS-Orion combination, which stands 322 feet (98 metres) tall.
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NASA calls the SLS the most powerful and advanced rocket ever made. It is the largest new vertical launch system the agency has built since the Apollo-era Saturn V, which was built because the US and the USSR were competing for space supremacy during the Cold War.
According to many experts, the first woman to walk on the moon could return to Earth as early as 2025 if the first two Artemis missions are successful. However, that target date is likely to be pushed back by a few years. The last people to walk on the moon were the two-person descent team of Apollo 17 in 1972. Before them, 10 other astronauts had walked on the moon during five missions, starting with Apollo 11 in 1969.
NASA officials think that the Artemis program’s ultimate goal of building a permanent outpost on the moon as a stepping stone for even more ambitious astronaut missions to Mars won’t be reached until at least the late 2030s.
SLS has had years of delays and cost overruns during its development, which has lasted more than ten years. However, the Artemis programme has resulted in tens of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in revenue thanks to the key contractors, Boeing (NYSE: BA) Co for SLS and Lockheed Martin Corp (NYSE: LMT) for Orion.
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NASA officials were watching for a small helium leak in launch pad equipment on Sunday, the day before the SLS’s first flight. However, Spaulding told reporters at a launch-eve news conference that he didn’t think there would be any technical problems with the countdown.
In an unexpected phone conversation from U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, who will be in Florida to see the rocket launch in person, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson remarked, “Remember that this is a test flight.”
“She’s thrilled,” Nelson stated following the call.
