Team Artemis is targeting its first two-hour launch window from 8:33am. ET to 10:33 a.m. ET on Monday, August 29. There are backup launch windows on September 2nd and September 5th. The rocket stack arrived at the launch site on August 17 after leaving the Vehicle Assembly Building following a 4-mile (6.4 km) ride on one of NASA’s giant Apollo-era crawlers from the assembly building to the launch site – – just like the shuttle missions and the Apollo Saturn V rockets once did. The unmanned Artemis I will launch on a mission that crosses the moon and returns to Earth. Once launched, the spacecraft will reach a distant retrograde orbit around the Moon, traveling 1.3 million miles (2.1 million kilometers) over 42 days. Artemis I will sink into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego on October 10. Orion’s return will be fast and hotter than any spacecraft has ever experienced on its way back to Earth. The Orion spacecraft will travel farther than any human-built spacecraft has ever flown, reaching 40,000 miles (64,000 kilometers) beyond the far side of the moon, according to NASA. There are no people on board, but Orion will carry 120 pounds (54.4 kg) of memorabilia, including toys, Apollo 11 artifacts and three mannequins. In command of Orion will be Commander Moonikin Campos, a suiting mannequin that can collect data on what future human crews might experience on a lunar journey. The mannequin will wear the new Orion Crew Survival System suit designed for astronauts to wear during launch and re-entry. The suit has two radiation sensors. That mission will launch NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to return humans to the Moon and land the first woman and first person of color on the lunar surface by 2025 — and eventually pave the way for human exploration of Mars. Artemis I will also conduct a series of science experiments, some of which will be installed once the rocket and spacecraft reach the launch site.
title: “Artemis I Is Headed For A Launch To The Moon And Back Nasa Says " ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-20” author: “William Krzeczkowski”
That’s the result of NASA’s flight readiness inspection, which was conducted on Monday. The review was an in-depth readiness assessment of the 322-foot-tall (98-meter) stack, consisting of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft, currently at the launch site at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. . Team Artemis is targeting its first two-hour launch window from 8:33am. ET to 10:33 a.m. ET on Monday, August 29. There are backup launch windows on September 2nd and September 5th. The “go” after the flight readiness review is a positive sign that things are on track for the mission, but there are still factors next week that could affect when it lifts off the pad, including bad weather. Very little remains on the to-do list after previous rounds of testing the rocket at the launch site during the wet rehearsal, which simulated each launch step without liftoff. It remains an open object that the team will test on launch day, said Mike Sarafin, director of NASA’s Artemis mission. The hydrogen start, used to thermally condition the engines, was not performed during the final wet dress rehearsal, so this process is now an element of the launch countdown. That test will take place during a “quiet point” before the final countdown, said Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, Artemis I launch manager at Kennedy Space Center. The rocket stack arrived at the launch site Aug. 17 after a 4-mile (6.4-kilometer) ride on one of NASA’s giant Apollo-era crawlers from the Vehicle Assembly Building — just as shuttle missions once did and the Apollo Saturn V rockets. The unmanned Artemis I will launch on a mission that crosses the moon and returns to Earth. Once launched, the spacecraft will reach a distant retrograde orbit around the moon, traveling 1.3 million miles (2.1 million kilometers) over 42 days. Artemis I will sink into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego on October 10. Orion’s return will be faster and hotter than any spacecraft has ever experienced on its way back to Earth. The Orion spacecraft will travel farther than any human-built spacecraft has ever flown, reaching 40,000 miles (64,000 kilometers) beyond the far side of the moon, according to NASA. There are no people on board, but Orion will carry 120 pounds (54.4 kg) of memorabilia, including toys, Apollo 11 artifacts and three mannequins. In command of Orion will be Commander Moonikin Campos, a suiting mannequin that can collect data on what future human crews might experience on a lunar journey. The mannequin will wear the new Orion Crew Survival System suit designed for astronauts to wear during launch and re-entry. The suit has two radiation sensors. That mission will launch NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to return humans to the Moon and land the first woman and first person of color on the lunar surface by 2025 — and eventually pave the way for human exploration of Mars. Artemis I will also conduct a number of science experiments, some of which were installed once the rocket and spacecraft arrived at the launch site. This week, the Artemis team will open the hatch on Orion once more to install a Snoopy plush toy, which will serve as the mission’s zero-gravity marker. Once the spacecraft reaches the microgravity environment of space, Snoopy will float through the crew capsule. Bob Cabana, the associate administrator for NASA headquarters in Washington, DC, thought about watching the launch of Apollo 13 as a young midshipman at the US Naval Academy. “I never dreamed I’d end up as an astronaut, let alone the director of the Kennedy Space Center or the position I’m in now,” Cabana said. “I’m a product of the Apollo generation and look what he’s done for us. And I can’t wait to see what comes from the Artemis generation because I think it’s going to inspire even more than Apollo. It was rewarding to be able to see all that work against during the review today and know that we are ready to do so.”
