NASA plans to take the first step when returning to the moon, and agency officials told reporters Wednesday that the Orion spacecraft will launch around the moon in late August or early September.
The much-anticipated flight, without astronauts, will take off on August 29, September 2, or September 5, according to NASA. Fixed dates for a mission This has been in the works for years.
The flight will mark the first launch of the agency’s largest Space Launch System rocket, and a milestone in Artemis’ campaign to return astronauts to the lunar surface for the first time since the last Apollo mission in 1972.
Due to the complexity of the vehicles and the fact that NASA has never launched an SLS rocket before, NASA has confirmed that launch dates at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida are tentative and subject to change.
NASA made several attempts earlier this year to conduct a countdown refueling and simulation test of the SLS rocket, known as wet clothes rehearsal. When the rocket was loaded with 700,000 gallons of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen, engineers discovered a series of problems, including a hydrogen leak that prevented NASA from completing a count test. As a result, NASA had to return the rocket from the launch pad to the assembly building for additional repairs and tests.
However, officials said they have completed enough testing to advance the launch attempt. On Wednesday, space agency officials said all was going well.
The mission, known as Artemis I, will send the crew’s Orion capsule into lunar orbit for six weeks, allowing the agency to test a series of systems before putting astronauts on board.
One of the main goals of the flight is to test Orion’s heat shield, said Mike Sarafin, NASA’s Artemis mission manager. The heat shield is intended to protect Orion and any future crew from the extreme temperatures it will encounter when it enters Earth’s atmosphere at 24,500 miles per hour, or Mach 32. That temperature could reach “half the height of the sun,” Sarafin said.
NASA will test the spacecraft’s navigation systems, its ability to use energy drawn from its solar arrays, and its flexibility when traveling through highly irradiated regions. Three mannequins will be fitted with sensors to determine how the astronauts will travel on the flight. Sarafin said the spacecraft will be recovered through another test after it plunged into the ocean.
NASA is not trying to send a spacecraft designed to fly humans to the moon in 50 years, and cashiers said problems were to be expected, but that “our team is ready to adapt along the way.”
If the Artemis I mission goes as planned, NASA is planning a similar mission called Artemis II with the astronauts. The human probe, known as Artemis III, could arrive as early as 2025, according to NASA.
If NASA decides to go ahead with the Artemis I launch on August 29, it will launch the SLS rocket from the assembly building to the launch pad on August 18.
“We think we are on a good path going forward [launch] said NASA Administrator Jim Frey. But he reminded reporters that families of astronauts coming to watch the launch should “plan a seven-day vacation in Florida, and watch the launch there as well.”