NASA is preparing for its coveted Artemis I mission, which is expected to launch from the Cape no earlier than August 29 with a two-hour window beginning at 7:33amCT. This historic mission will be the first major step in a series of missions that aim to ultimately put humans back on the moon and then head to Mars.
Artemis I is the first integrated test of NASA’s deep space exploration systems: the Orion spacecraft, Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and ground systems at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Artemis I is the first in a series of increasingly complex missions, Artemis I is an uncrewed flight test that will provide a foundation for human deep space exploration and demonstrate NASA’s commitment and capability to return humans to the Moon and beyond.
Building upon generations of work, NASA’s Johnson Space Center and its workers and contactors have worked hard to make this vision a reality. Hours upon hours of work from building the Orion spacecraft to the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket to the Gateway lunar outpost, those working on the mission were excited to get to this first step.”I just love this photo,” Debbie Korth, Orion Program Deputy Managerm, said, looking at a photo of Orion and SLS with the moon in the background. “It gives me chills to see this moon in the background---our destination sort of calling to us.”
“We’re going back to the moon,” Nujoud Merancy NASA’s Exploration Mission Planning Office Chief said. “[It’s] the first time humans have left lower Earth orbit in over 50 years.”
Artemis I Quick Facts:
Launch Site: Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida
Launch Date: Aug. 29, 2022 (Mon)
Launch Window: 8:33 a.m. EDT to 10:33 a.m.
Mission Duration: 42 days, 3 hours, 20 minutes
Destination: Distant retrograde orbit around the Moon
Total Mission Miles: Approximately 1.3 million miles (2.1 million kilometers)
Targeted Splashdown Site: Pacifc Ocean, off the coast of San Diego
Return Speed: Up to 25,000 mph (40,000 kph)
Splashdown: Oct. 10, 2022
During this flight, Orion will launch atop the most powerful rocket in the world and fly farther than any spacecraft
built for humans has ever flown. Over the course of the mission, it will travel 280,000 miles (450,000 kilometers) from
Earth and 40,000 miles (64,000 kilometers) beyond the far side of the Moon. Orion will stay in space longer than
any human spacecraft has without docking to a space station and return home faster and hotter than ever before.
This first Artemis mission will demonstrate the performance of both Orion and the SLS rocket and test our capabilities
to orbit the Moon and return to Earth. The flight will pave the way for future missions to the lunar vicinity, including
landing the first woman and first person of color on the surface of the Moon. With Artemis I, NASA sets the stage for human exploration into deep space, where astronauts will build and begin testing the systems near the Moon needed for lunar surface missions and exploration to other destinations farther from Earth, including Mars. With Artemis, NASA will collaborate with industry and international partners to establish
long-term exploration for the first time. - NASA”For me, it’s just the most awe-inspiring moment that we have had here at NASA. There is nothing that motivates someone more than doing. That’s what Apollo did, that’s what Artemis is going to do. We are going out there and we are going to do this,” NASA’s Chief Astronaut Reid Wiseman, said.