“This launch system is going to give us the capability to put humans and equipment into space that we haven’t had in a long time.”ĭespite the lofty goals of broadening humankind’s off-world horizons, NASA has faced years of criticism for its handling of the SLS and Orion. And that is-we don’t know all the answers,” says Daniel Dumbacher, who oversaw the SLS’s initial development while he was at NASA and now serves as executive director of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. “We use the word ‘exploration’ in this discussion, and I think sometimes we forget what exploration is. But the mission will still have some ride alongs-a few secondary science payloads that will help researchers better understand the quirks and challenges of exploring deep space and lunar environments. So no humans will be onboard-that will have to wait until the follow-up flight of Artemis II, optimistically scheduled for 2024. Invariably, not everything will perform exactly according to expectations. It’s the first time NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) will fly, the first time the Orion crew capsule will feel the tug of the moon’s gravity and the first time the spacecraft’s heat shield will experience a blistering plunge through Earth’s atmosphere. Artemis I is a test flight- a journey of more than a million miles that will put the space agency’s new crew-rated hardware through its paces. This day has been a long time coming,” NASA’s associate administrator Bob Cabana told reporters during an August 22 press briefing that followed Artemis I’s flight readiness review.īut Cabana and others were quick to stress that this mission is not without risk. “We are ‘go’ for launch, which is absolutely outstanding. ET, with backup dates set for September 2 and 5. Artemis I will blast off from launch pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center near Cape Canaveral, Fla., as early as 8:33 A.M. ![]() This flight will be the beginning of an intricate series of spaceflights that could send humans back to the moon’s surface-and on a tortuous path to Mars-for the first time since the final Apollo mission in 1972. The space agency has officially set August 29 as the launch date for its Artemis I mission. After more than a decade of development, NASA’s new moon rocket will finally attempt to shed the shackles of Earth’s gravity and soar into space.
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