How to see NASA's Artemis 1 lunar launch?

NASA has announced that it will attempt to launch its Artemis 1 test flight once again on Saturday. This mission is crucial for sending an unmanned Orion crew capsule on a 42-day journey beyond the moon and back.

The Space Launch System moon rocket was originally supposed to launch on Monday morning, but after months of testing, troubleshooting, and repairs, NASA encountered issues during fuelling, causing the agency to cancel the planned launch just as the two-hour window was opening.

Before that can happen, NASA must be certain that the issues that surfaced on Monday, including a hydrogen leak detected during the fuelling, have been fixed. Finding the root of a brief communications hiccup in one of the channels carrying orders and information to and from the Orion spacecraft was another challenge as the countdown entered its closing hours. One such probable concern was a potential sign of a leak of some kind, a thermal insulation fracture, or some other malfunction seen on the outside of the rocket’s core stage.

On Monday, August 29, 2022, the Space Launch System moon rocket was atop pad 39B prepared for launch on a mission to carry an unmanned Orion capsule on a 42-day shakedown voyage to the moon and back. NASAWhen it occurs, the launch will be a spectacular sight. With four engines from the shuttle era and two extended strap-on solid fuel boosters, the SLS, NASA’s most powerful rocket to date, will provide an earth-shattering 8.8 million pounds of thrust to launch the 5.7 million-pound rocket from pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center.

The Artemis 1 rocket element of the project will launch the Orion spacecraft and its European Space Agency-supplied Orion service module into space, out of Earth orbit, and onto a trajectory toward the moon in only one hour and 36 minutes.

Orion will quickly return to a far-off orbit around the moon after a close flyby at a height of just 60 miles for two weeks of testing and checkout.

If all goes according to plan, the capsule will fall back toward the moon for another close flyby, setting up a swift drop back to Earth and a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.

The 322-foot-tall SLS rocket, the most powerful ever built by NASA, during rollout to pad 39B. NASA

In 2024, NASA intends to deploy four people on a looping around-the-moon voyage as a follow-up to the Artemis 1 mission, laying the groundwork for the first human landing in over 50 years, somewhere around the south pole. In the years 2025–2026, the first man and the second man could set foot on the moon.

Future astronauts may be able to “mine” that ice if it is extant and accessible, turning it into oxygen, water, and even rocket fuel to significantly lower the cost of deep space travel. It is thought that there may be ice deposits in lunar craters close to the pole.

In general, Artemis astronauts will conduct in-depth exploration and study to find out more about the moon’s creation and development as well as to test the equipment and processes needed to transport people to Mars.

But before launching Artemis 1, NASA must demonstrate that the rocket and capsule will function as intended.

The Artemis 1 mission’s objective is to test the Orion spacecraft’s solar power, propulsion, navigation, and life support systems before its October 10 return to Earth and a 25,000 mph dive back into the atmosphere that would expose its protective heat shield to a horrifying 5,000 degrees.

The primary objective of the Artemis 1 mission is to test the heat shield and ensure that it can defend people returning from deep space.

An artist’s impression of the Orion spacecraft passing by the moon. NASA

»How to see NASA’s Artemis 1 lunar launch?«

How to see NASA’s Artemis 1 lunar launch?

↯↯↯Read More On The Topic On TDPel Media ↯↯↯

Related