Description:

As the space agency gears itself to launch its Artemis I mission as early as August 29, NASA"s Kennedy Space Center on the Florida coast may soon witness the first launch of a big Moon rocket since 1973.

Artemis I, an unmanned test flight of NASA"s Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System rocket, is the agency"s first comprehensive examination of the hardware that it hopes will return astronauts to the Moon by 2025 and launch a decade of lunar activities that will serve as a proving ground for technologies eventually aimed at visiting Mars.

The planned rocket launch and NASA"s new Moon programme for the twenty-first century are covered in detail here.

When and how can you watch the Artemis 1 launch?

On August 29, no sooner than 8.33 a.m. EDT, Artemis 1 is expected to launch from Kennedy Space Center"s rocket complex 39B. The space agency"s website, Nasa TV, and Nasa app will all broadcast the launch live.

Although NASA officials have acknowledged they may launch the uncrewed test mission under some conditions that may ground a human crewed trip, Nasa also has launch windows on September 2 and 5. If the launch is scrubbed for any reason, these launch windows are on September 2 and 5.

What is Artemis?

A series of crewed and then uncrewed lunar flybys will lead to the first landing on the Moon in more than 50 years as part of NASA"s Artemis Moon programme for the twenty-first century. After that, the space agency intends to launch crewed missions to the moon"s surface once every year for the rest of the decade. In addition, it plans to construct a space station in lunar orbit and a base on the moon"s South Pole, where astronauts will test the equipment and abilities required for Nasa"s long-term objective, a crewed mission to Mars in the early 2040s.

In the spring of 2024, a crew of astronauts will conduct a lunar flyby on Artemis II, which will follow Artemis I. The first astronauts, including the first woman and person of colour, will touch down on the lunar surface during Artemis III, which is currently planned for some time in 2025.

What is SLS?

The largest rocket built since the Saturn V rocket of the Apollo programme is NASA"s Space Launch System, or SLS.

In its present form, called as Block 1, SLS comprises of two solid rocket boosters mounted on its flanks in the style of the Space Shuttle, which combined can generate 8.8 million pounds of thrust from a core booster field of liquid hydrogen and oxygen. The SLS will be the most potent rocket ever launched when it lifts off on August 29 with around 15% more thrust than the Saturn V.

What is Orion?

For the Artemis programme, NASA has chosen the Lockheed-Martin-built Orion spacecraft to return men to the Moon. It shares many similarities with the Apollo spacecraft from the 1960s and 1970s, although it is significantly roomier, holding four astronauts as opposed to Apollo"s three, and it is constructed using contemporary computer and navigational technologies.

Orion"s spacecraft, like Apollo"s, carries a heat shield to slow down through friction when it reenters the atmosphere of the Earth. It will also deploy parachutes to slow down before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean.

What is Artemis I"s purpose?

Before the first astronauts board Artemis II in 2023, the SLS and Orion spacecraft must pass a series of critical tests, including Artemis I, to ensure that all of its systems will work as intended in space.

SLS will launch Orion on the 42-day Artemis I mission to the Moon. After a flyby that will bring Orion within 62 miles of the lunar surface, the spacecraft will begin a six-day data-gathering orbit around the Moon. In order to collect information on how the voyage might effect the bodies and health of astronauts on the Artemis II and III missions, the spacecraft will also carry three mannequins.

The most important part of the mission will occur when Orion re-enters the Earth"s atmosphere at 32 times the speed of sound and first uses its heat shield. According to NASA officials, it is the mission"s top priority.

At a news conference on August 3, Administrator Nelson stated, "This is an ablative heat shield, and the only way you can test it is to get it out there and let it come in at 32 Mach." Orion will return to Earth quicker and hotter than any previous spaceship.

After bleeding off speed in the form of heat, the Orion spacecraft’s parachutes will bring it down in the waters of the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Baja California at around 20 miles per hour.