Launch day has finally arrived for the unmanned Artemis I mission to take off on a trip around the moon. Tune in to NASA’s website and TV channel to follow the latest preparations and watch the launch. The program also includes appearances by celebrities such as Jack Black, Chris Evans and Keke Palmer and performances of “The Star-Spangled Banner” by Josh Groban and Herbie Hancock and “America the Beautiful” by the Philadelphia Orchestra and cellist Yo-Yo Ma. . It’s a sight to behold as the 322-foot-tall (98-foot) stack consisting of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft glows in the early morning darkness at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The stack is located at historic Launchpad 39B, where Apollo 10 and shuttle missions were previously launched. Weather conditions remain 80% favorable for a launch at the start of a window that opens at 8:33 AM. and closes at 10:33 AM. ET, according to the latest forecast. However, offshore storms with a chance of lightning prevented the team from starting the feeding process, which was due to start at midnight, for more than an hour. The hold was lifted at 1:13 am. ET, and the tanking process has begun. The rocket’s core stage will be loaded with supercooled liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen over the next few hours. Engineers are also currently working to figure out what caused the 11-minute delay in communications between the Orion spacecraft and ground systems. The problem may affect the start of the terminal countdown or the countdown that starts when there are 10 minutes left on the clock before takeoff. However, engineers feel good about figuring out the issue before the terminals are counted, according to NASA.
Mission Overview
Orion’s journey will take 42 days as it travels to the moon, orbits it and returns to Earth — covering a total of 1.3 million miles (2.1 million kilometers). The capsule will launch into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego on October 10. Although the passenger list does not include humans, it does have passengers: three mannequins and a Snoopy plush toy will ride on the Orion. Expect to see views of Earthrise similar to those shared during Apollo 8 for the first time, but with much better cameras and technology. Science experiments and technology demonstrations lead to a ring on the rocket. The 10 small satellites, called CubeSats, will detach and take separate paths to gather information about the moon and the deep space environment. The inaugural mission of the Artemis program will begin a space exploration phase that lands different crews of astronauts in previously unexplored regions of the moon and eventually delivers manned missions to Mars. The rocket and spacecraft will be tested and put through their paces for the first time before carrying astronauts to the moon on Artemis II and Artemis III, scheduled for 2024 and 2025 respectively.
