After years of conceptualizing, planning and testing, NASA on Monday will take the initial operational step toward returning human astronauts to the moon for the first time in a half-century.
Artemis I, the long-awaited first mission that will pave the way for humans to return to the lunar surface, is scheduled to lift off from the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center on Monday aboard the massive new Space Launch System.
A two-hour launch window is scheduled to begin at 8:33 a.m. EDT from Complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in central Florida.
NASA will stream the launch live and the broadcast is set to feature appearances by a handful of celebrities that include Jack Black, Chris Evans and Keke Palmer, as well as a performances of “The Star-Spangled Banner” by Josh Groban and Herbie Hancock and “America the Beautiful” featuring The Philadelphia Orchestra and cellist Yo-Yo Ma, conducted by Yannick Nezet-Seguin.
The uncrewed Artemis I mission is the first for the Space Launch System, which is paired with the Orion capsule. The primary goal of the mission is to ensure the SLS can do its job and the Orion spacecraft can safely deliver astronauts back to Earth.
“Artemis I is that first step down this path when we talk about sustained exploration on the lunar surface. This is our exploration system. I hope that everyone takes some pride nationally for what we’ve been able to do and where we are today,” NASA Associate Administrator, Exploration Systems Jim Free said during a press briefing on Friday.
It’s been a very long road for NASA, scientists and the space-loving public to get back to this point since the last human mission to the moon 50 years ago.
When Apollo 17 landed on the moon in 1972, everyone already knew that it would be the last human flight to the lunar surface for a long time. For they knew that it had already been a very expensive endeavor and NASA had other plans for the future that did not involve a return to the moon.
As Neil Armstrong was famously the first human to walk on the lunar surface, astronaut Gene Cernan was the last on Dec. 14, 1972.
“As I take man’s last step from the surface … for some time to come, but we believe not too long into the future, I’d like to just say what I believe history will record that America’s challenge of today has forged man’s destiny of tomorrow,” Cernan said before he climbed back into the lunar module for the return to Earth.
“And as we leave the moon … we leave as we came, and God willing as we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind.”
The space shuttle became NASA’s top priority from its development in the mid-1970s until it was retired in 2011. Two disasters and the loss of 14 astronauts hastened the end to the space shuttle, which never fulfilled its goal of becoming an inexpensive reusable space vehicle.
A return to the moon wouldn’t become a goal again at NASA until 2005 when the Constellation program was announced. Its main goals were finishing the International Space Station, returning to the moon no later than 2020 and sending a human mission to Mars. President Barack Obama canceled Constellation in 2010 when it was learned that the program would be too costly.
The formal law that canceled Constellation, however, directly led to the Space Launch System and ultimately the Artemis program.
NASA’s Lunar Gateway Program aims to establish a space station orbiting the moon that will serve future lunar missions and is on schedule for launch by SpaceX in 2024. Artemis II, a crewed mission that will orbit the moon, is scheduled for sometime in 2024 and Artemis III, which will return humans to the lunar surface, sometime in 2025.
Holly Ridings, deputy director of the Gateway Program, said that the 12 years leading up to the launch have all been “positive trajectory.”
“We created what we have today, Artemis I, SLS and Orion, out on the launchpad ready to go, and even beyond that, the entire Artemis enterprise. The process to me was one of resilience in a way that we always use,” she told UPI.
On Sunday, NASA said Artemis I was in good position to take off Monday despite recording five “events” from at least one lightning strike at the launch site as weather forced work planned into Sunday night to be “pulled in.” Final checks will be done about two hours prior to launch on Monday.
If Artemis I does not launch on Monday, NASA will try again during the next window early Friday afternoon. After that, the next window would be on Sept. 5.
NASA in good position for Monday launch of Artemis I
Washington DC (UPI) Aug 28, 2021 –
The historic Artemis I test launch to take man back to the moon is in a good position take off from Florida on Monday, NASA officials said Sunday.
Liftoff from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39B is planned for a two-hour launch window that opens at 8:33 a.m. EDT, Megan Cruz with NASA communications said in a televised briefing Sunday.
“We’ve had a really good day on the first day of our launch countdown,” said NASA Test Director Jeff Spalding.
“Yesterday, we picked up the count right on time at 9:53 and started our clock at 10:23 in the morning. Since that time, we’ve been working really hard. We got the vehicles powered up and have been doing testing throughout the day and evening.”
Spalding said NASA recorded five “events” from at least one lightning strike at the launch site around 1:14 p.m. Saturday but that canary circuit checks and other checks came back clear.
“We have been evaluating those through yesterday and through last night and everything to date looks good from a vehicle perspective. We haven’t had to do any significant retests,” Spalding said.
“We have a threshold that we look at to see what the magnitude of these strikes are and we did not meet that criteria to have do to intensive, more invasive type of retests.”
Spalding said NASA has charged the batteries for the Orion capsule and the core stage of the rocket and was pressuring helium tanks on the core stage and will potentially move into the cryo-load phase of preparations around 11:53 p.m. if approved by the launch director.
Work planned into Sunday night has been “pulled in” as rainy weather was expected in the afternoon.
“We are trying to be very proactive, planning ahead and evaluating those things and adjusting as required knowing that we might get some weather as we have in the last few days,” Spalding said.
Final checks will be done about two hours prior to launch and NASA has planned for a backup window of 12:48 p.m. on Friday if they cannot launch Monday. A third possible window would be on Sept. 5.
“Whenever we see things as dramatic as lightning, we pay a lot of attention to it as we should. So that just for us kicks us off into the next mode for us to evaluate what happened,” Spalding said.
“I love that the weather looks favorable at the beginning of the window and my job is to get us to the beginning of the window, and that’s what we’re going to do.”
He added that there was a possible helium leak but that it is in tolerance to be able to support the launch.
Melody Lovin, weather officer with the U.S. Space Force, said Sunday that remnant showers and a leftover thunderstorm are lingering from Saturday.
She added that the East Coast could expect to see further showers and thunderstorms Sunday.
“One thing that will benefit us today is that, though we’re likely to get rain, just as we almost always do in the Space Coast in August in September, the East Coast sea breeze will creep farther across the interior central portion of the state and hopefully will give us a large block of clearing this afternoon,” she said.
“We may be examining the chance for some late-night showers and maybe a thunderstorm or two, somewhere across interior Florida, but most of the conductive activity should be done for when we’re looking to tank later tonight.”
Lovin said that there has to be less than a 20% chance of lightning to tank and that NASA cannot fly directly through precipitation.
“We have to be flying directly through it, there’s not really a standoff distance for that. So because of that, it does buy us a decent amount of real estate on the radar for us finding a hole in the clouds to launch through,” Lovin said.
The launch forecast for Monday includes slight winds of up to 10 mph with a temperature of 82 degrees Fahrenheit with an 80% chance of favorable weather at the beginning of the launch window.”
As we creep forward in time through the two-hour launch window, we just have a better chance of those off-shore showers and maybe a thunderstorm or two creeping closer to the coastline,” Lovin said.
Lovin said 5 a.m. Monday will be “a pivotal time” when officials will know if the weather will comply with the launch and that the rocket should be able to be seen as far as Gainesville.
Vice President Kamala Harris will be watching from nearby at the press site and then speak about the launch, officials said.
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Sunrise for the Moon
Paris (ESA) Aug 28, 2022
The Orion spacecraft with integrated European Service Module sit atop the Space Launch System, imaged at sunrise at historic Launchpad 39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA.
The Flight Readiness Review has deemed the trio GO for launch, marking the dawn of a new era in space exploration.
The first in a series of missions that will return humans to the Moon, including taking the first European, Artemis I is scheduled for launch no earlier than Monday 29 August, at 14:33 CEST.
This … read more
