The uncrewed launch marks the debut of the most powerful rocket ever assembled and begins NASA’s long-awaited return to the lunar surface. It is the first mission in NASA’s Artemis lunar program, which is expected to land the agency’s astronauts on the Moon by its third mission in 2025. While Artemis I won’t carry astronauts or land on the moon, the mission is critical to proving that NASA’s monster rocket and deep-space capsule can live up to their promised capabilities. Artemis I has been delayed for years, with the program running billions over budget. NASA’s Artemis I Moon rocket launches at Launch Pad Complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on August 16, 2022. Chandan Khanna | AFP | Getty Images The Artemis I mission represents a critical turning point in NASA’s plans for the moon. Despite delays and absorbing much of NASA’s relatively small budget by federal agency standards, the Artemis program has received strong bipartisan political support. Officials in 2012 estimated that the SLS rocket would cost $6 billion to develop, debut in 2017 and have a $500 million per launch price. But the rocket is just now making its debut, having cost more than $20 billion to develop and the price per launch has soared to $4.1 billion. NASA’s Inspector General, its internal auditor, said earlier this year that Artemis is not the “sustainable” moon program that agency officials say it is. The watchdog found that more than $40 billion has already been spent on the program, and NASA predicted it would spend $93 billion on the effort by 2025 — when the first landing is scheduled. But even that 2025 date is in doubt, according to NASA’s Inspector General, who said the development technologies needed to land on the lunar surface are unlikely to be ready before 2026 at the earliest. NASA’s Artemis project builds on the success of another monster rocket: SpaceX’s Starship. The agency last year awarded SpaceX a $2.9 billion contract to develop a specific version of the moon rocket that will serve as a crew lunar lander for the Artemis III mission. SpaceX began testing its Starship spacecraft in 2019, but that rocket has yet to reach orbit. A number of aerospace contractors across the US are supporting the hardware, infrastructure and software for NASA’s Artemis I – Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Aerojet Rocketdyne and Jacobs are leading the effort. According to NASA, the Artemis program supports about 70,000 jobs across the country. Several NASA centers are also involved, beyond the Kennedy launch site – including headquarters in DC, Marshall in Alabama, Stennis in Mississippi, Ames in California and Langley in Virginia. In the event that technical problems or weather delays the Aug. 29 launch attempt, NASA has backup launch dates planned for Sept. 2 and Sept. 5. Here’s what you need to know about the release:
The rocket: SLS
NASA’s SLS Large Lunar Rocket atop the Orion spacecraft exits the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center en route to liftoff assembly 39B for a launch rehearsal on March 17, 2022 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Paul Hennessy | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images Standing as tall as a skyscraper at 322 feet, the SLS rocket is a composite vehicle based on technologies used and refined by NASA’s Space Shuttle and Apollo programs. Fully powered, the SLS weighs 5.7 million pounds and produces up to 8.8 million pounds of thrust – 15 percent more than Saturn V rockets last century. The SLS uses four liquid-fueled RS-25 engines, which flew on the Space Shuttle before being refurbished and upgraded, as well as a pair of solid rocket boosters. The SLS core stage gets its orange color from the thermal protection system covering it, which is a spray foam insulation. For the first three Artemis missions, NASA is using a variant of the SLS known as Block 1. For later missions, NASA plans to introduce an even more powerful variant, known as Block 1B.
The capsule: Orion
NASA’s Orion spacecraft Source: NASA NASA’s Orion capsule can carry four astronauts on missions lasting up to 21 days without connecting to another spacecraft. At its core is the crew module, which is designed to withstand the harsh conditions of deep space flight. After launch, Orion is powered and propelled by the European Service Module, which was built by the European Space Agency and contractor Airbus. For Artemis I, there will be three mannequins inside the Orion capsule to collect sensor data about what the astronauts will experience on the journey to and from the moon. The return to Earth will be especially critical, as Orion will re-enter Earth’s atmosphere at about 25,000 miles per hour. A heat shield protects Orion’s exterior, and a set of parachutes will slow it down for an ocean landing
The mission around the moon
NASA’s Artemis I Moon rocket sits at Launch Pad Complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on June 15, 2022. Eva Marie Uzcategui | AFP | Getty Images Artemis I will travel approximately 1.3 million miles over 42 days, spanning several phases. After separating from SLS, the capsule will deploy solar arrays and begin a multi-day journey to the moon – departing from Earth orbit in what is known as an ‘interlunar injection’. NASA plans to fly Orion up to 60 miles above the Moon’s surface before moving into a wide orbit around the lunar body. To return, Orion will use the moon’s gravity to help it set an orbit back to Earth’s. Orion is expected to launch into the Pacific Ocean — off the coast of San Diego, California — where a team of NASA and Department of Defense personnel will retrieve the capsule. In addition to the mannequins on Orion, Artemis I carries several payloads such as cube satellites, technology demonstrations and scientific research.
