More than 400,000 people were able to watch history being made as NASA announced Artemis I was ready for launch on Saturday, marking the agency’s second attempt after the first was scrubbed on Monday.
NASA proudly announced in a pre-launch briefing Friday that final core status and engine preparations are complete and weather conditions for the launch window, which opens at 2:17 p.m. ET, are 60 percent and then 80 percent favorable look before it closes two hours later.
Monday saw a last-minute peel due to a reading from a “bad” sensor that disappointed the 200,000 spectators around the Kennedy Space Center who waited in the area before sunrise to watch the launch.
Artemis Mission Manager Mike Sarafin said in a statement: “There is no guarantee we will get off on Saturday, but we will try.”
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The Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion capsule sit on Launchpad 39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, awaiting their second chance for a maiden flight
The Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion capsule currently sit on Launchpad 39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, awaiting their second chance for a maiden voyage.
If the mission resumes Saturday, the rocket-mounted Orion capsule will spend 37 days in space, orbiting the moon from a distance of about 60 miles.
Live coverage of the epic launch of Artemis I begins at 5:45 a.m., which will begin with controls and procedures as the countdown continues.
Teams will adjust engine cooldown procedures, also known as kickstart bleed testing, approximately 30 to 45 minutes early in the countdown during the liquid hydrogen fast fill phase for the core phase.
NASA proudly announced in a pre-launch briefing Friday that final core status and engine preparations are complete and weather conditions for the launch window, which opens at 2:17 p.m. ET, are 60 percent and then 80 percent favorable look before it closes two hours later
About 400,000 people are expected to watch the launch from the Florida coast, up 200,000 from Monday (pictured).
This allows additional time to cool the engines to suitable temperatures for takeoff.
The team is concerned about Engine 3, although the problem stems from an erroneous measurement, and another concern is a crack in the foam of the core stage intermediate tank, which was discovered during Monday’s event.
This deformation could break apart and hit part of the solid rocket booster, but Sarafin assured the public that he and his team believe the likelihood of that happening is very small.
It’s “a marginal increase in risk,” Sarafin said, but “we’re clearly ready to fly.”
“We had a plan for the launch attempt on August 29th. It used the sensors to confirm proper thermal conditioning of the engines. We had practiced that plan and then encountered other problems,” he continued.
“We were not on schedule with the normal refueling process and the team did a fantastic job in managing a dangerous situation. One of the worst things you can do when you’re in a dangerous state is stray even further from the script.
The Orion capsule (interior pictured) is unscrewed as it floats through space. That mission is to ensure the safety of the technology before humans can launch inside
If the mission resumes Saturday, the rocket-mounted Orion capsule will spend 37 days in space, orbiting the moon from a distance of about 60 miles
The plan on Saturday is to ignore the bad sensor readings and move forward with the mission.
SLS chief engineer John Blevins said Thursday night that the rocket’s automated launch sequencer checks temperature, pressure and other parameters.
And because the faulty sensor isn’t part of the sequencer, it’s not considered a flight instrument, Blevins explained.
If all goes according to plan after launch, another flight – this time with astronauts on board – will follow in 2024 before human boots grace the lunar surface again a year later as part of NASA’s ambitious Artemis program.
It has been half a century since humans last set foot on the moon in December 1972 – with more than half the world’s population never having landed on the moon.
If for some reason NASA misses the Saturday launch window, the last backup date is September 5th.
The Orion capsule is unmanned, but I’m putting three test dummies inside to test how humans will fare in the rocket, in space, and during the October Pacific splashdown.
The journey will take about a week, and Orion will approach to within 60 miles of the lunar surface before firing its thrusters to orbit up to 40,000 miles away.
This will break the Apollo 13 record for the farthest distance a human-designed spacecraft has traveled from Earth.
And the capsule’s return trip to Earth will last from day 35 to 42 of the mission before splashdown on day 43.
Artemis I is designed to show that the SLS rocket and Orion capsule are ready to carry astronauts for Artemis II and eventually the Artemis III mission to bring humans back to the moon.
NASA will land the first woman and first black person on the moon as part of the Artemis mission in 2025
Artemis was the twin sister of Apollo and moon goddess in Greek mythology.
NASA chose her to embody their path back to the moon, which will see astronauts return to the lunar surface by 2025 – including the first woman and the next man.
Artemis 1, formerly Exploration Mission-1, is the first in a series of increasingly complex missions that will enable human exploration of the Moon and Mars.
Artemis 1 will be the first integrated flight test of NASA’s space exploration system: the Orion spacecraft, the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the ground systems at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Artemis 1 will be an unmanned flight that will provide a basis for human exploration of space and demonstrate our commitment and ability to extend human existence to the Moon and beyond.
During this flight, the spacecraft will launch the world’s most powerful rocket and fly further than any human-made spacecraft has ever flown.
It will travel 280,000 miles (450,600 km) from Earth, thousands of miles beyond the moon, over the course of a roughly three-week mission.
Artemis 1, formerly Exploration Mission-1, is the first in a series of increasingly complex missions that will enable human exploration of the Moon and Mars. This graphic explains the different phases of the mission
Orion will stay in space longer than any astronaut spacecraft without docking with a space station, and return home faster and hotter than ever.
With this first reconnaissance mission, NASA is taking the next steps in human exploration into space, where astronauts will build and begin testing near-lunar systems necessary for missions to the lunar surface and exploration of other, more distant targets, including of Mars, are needed.
This will put the crew on a different trajectory and test Orion’s critical systems with humans on board.
Together, Orion, SLS and Kennedy’s ground systems will be able to meet the most demanding requirements for crew and cargo missions in space.
Finally, as a result of the Artemis mission, NASA wants to establish a sustainable human presence on the moon by 2028.
The space agency hopes this colony will uncover new scientific discoveries, demonstrate new technological advances, and lay the groundwork for private companies to build a lunar economy.
