NASA's first 4 miles to the moon starts today. Here's how to watch.

NASA has always sent probes into the universe, but it is about to start sending humans into space again.

The first Artemis I mission, an uncrewed expedition around the moon, is scheduled to leave Earth as early as August 29.

The first leg of that trip, which NASA hasn't undertaken since the last Apollo mission in 1972, starts Tuesday with the slow crawl of the rocket and spaceship to the launchpad.

The first four miles of NASA's return to the moon are referred to by mission leaders, according to Michael Bolger, exploration ground systems manager at Kennedy Space Center.

You can watch a live broadcast on NASA's Kennedy Space Center channel. The live stream starts at 3 pm. The roll begins at about 9 p.m. on August 16. E.T.

The giant was moving down thecrawlerway for a launch rehearsal.

NASA's mega moon rocket crawled to the launchpad in March for a key fueling and countdown test. Credit: NASA / Kim Shiflett

It's been a long time since a rocket of this size was used by NASA. It's expected that the first crewed flight to Mars will happen one day, thanks to the SLS rocket. In the future, it could be possible to take a robotic scientific journey to the planets.

Artemis I, the first in a series of planned voyages named after the Greek goddess and twin of Apollo, is a more than $4 billion launch to fly the Orion capsule farther than any spaceship built for humans has ever flown.

The United States will be able to send a crew on the next mission, Artemis II, if this test mission is anything to go by. During Artemis III, the first moonwalk of a woman and person of color is expected to take place.

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Artemis I will fly a total of 1.3 million miles, which includes 40,000 miles beyond the moon. The capsule will splash down in the ocean after liftoff. Bill Nelson, NASA's administrator, said that the primary purpose of the first mission is to test the ability of the Navy to recover from reentering Earth's atmosphere.

"Orion will come home faster and hotter than any other craft has before." It is returning at 32 Mach. At 32 times the speed of sound, it will hit the Earth's atmosphere. "It's going to dip into the atmosphere and bleed off some of that speed before it starts descending through the atmosphere," said the former astronauts during a briefing. We were at 25 Mach on the Space Shuttle.

The big moon rocket needs to warm up. On its crawl to the launchpad, it won't travel over 1 mph.