Time is running out for the new moon rocket.
The Space Launch System is designed to be more powerful than the NASA's mightySaturn V. The Apollo space capsule was one-third the size of its opponent. The ultimate test is a trip to the moon.
On Monday, NASA will attempt to launch the SLS megarocket and Orion on a test flight that will serve as the first step in returning astronauts to the moon. The liftoff is scheduled to take place at 8:33 a.m. Pad 39B is located at the Kennedy Space Center. You can watch the launch live on Monday. The sun goes down at 10 pm
NASA's Artemis 1 mission manager told reporters here Saturday that their zero hour approach for the Artemis generation was near. A sense of anticipation is what we have.
Related: NASA's Artemis 1 moon mission: Live updates
More: 10 wild facts about the Artemis 1 moon mission
NASA is not the sole owner of that anticipation. Up 200,000 people are expected to watch NASA's first moon rocket fly in over 50 years in Florida's Space Coast. Their hopes are similar to NASA's for a succesful mission.
Jim Free is the associate director for exploration systems development at NASA. There are a lot of things that could go wrong during the mission in places where we may come home early, or we may have to abandon the mission.
The mission might not launch at all.
We could either go within the window or scrub for any number of reasons. We aren't going to say that we're going to get off on Monday.
There is a two hour window in which to try and launch Artemis 1 on Monday. The sun rises at 1433GMT. NASA says there is a 70% chance of good weather.
The Artemis 1 launch pad was struck by lightning.
For nearly two decades, NASA has been working on a new rocket. The Ares V rocket was supposed to be part of the program to return to the moon by 2020. The program was canceled and replaced by the Artemis program. The five-segment solid rocket boosters, which were part of the Ares 1 rocket, found new life in the SLS
Bruce Tiller, NASA's manager for the SLS boosters, told Space.com in an interview that they have been through their challenges. Over those years, everybody has had their challenges. I think we are ready to leave. It's really thrilling.
Congress directed NASA to build the Space Launch System over a decade ago, calling on the agency to use shuttle-legacy hardware. The first test flight was supposed to take place in 2017: It is not on time.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said Saturday that space is hard and that the agency has learned over time. It takes a lot of money and a lot of time to develop a new system.
There are very simple, but aggressive, goals for NASA.
The mission needs to test the heat shield to make sure it can survive the high altitudes of lunar re-entry. The European Space Agency built a service module for the SLS that NASA wants to use to see how the vehicle performs in deep space.
The space agency wants to recover the capsule after it crashes into the ocean to see how it did. NASA says it is carrying over 1,000 sensors to record the entire flight.
The farthest a crew-rated capsule has traveled to date is 40,000 miles beyond the moon and 285,000 miles from Earth. A crewed flight would last 10 days, according to NASA.
Despite its length, the mission is expected to complete just one and a half orbits of the moon as it flies in a long, looping orbit in the opposite direction of the moon's path around Earth. That "distant retrograde orbit" will bring Orion as close as about 60 miles (97 km) and as far out as 40,000 miles, mission managers have said.
Inside Orion is a spacesuit-clad "Moonikin" mannequin and humanoid torsos covered in sensors to measure the radiation environment Artemis astronauts will have to endure. And perhaps the most important test: reentry, when Orion will slam into Earth's atmosphere, skip off a tiny bit, then plunge back down for what NASA calls a "skip reentry."
The vehicle is being stressed to get ready for crew.
Science goals are also included. Small cubesats are used to test technologies for deep space exploration. One of them, called NEA Scout, will use a solar sail to leave the moon in search of a small asteroid.
Technology is being tested for navigating in deep space. Jacob Bleacher is the chief exploration scientist at NASA's Exploration Systems Development Mission directorate. Some of them will be using the moon to map where some of the water deposits may be.
NASA will follow Artemis 1 with Artemis 2, a crewed flight that will send four astronauts on a flyby mission around the moon in 24 years. The time lag between missions is due to the fact that NASA can use some of the components on Artemis 1 on a crewed flight if they like.
NASA hopes to have a crewed moon landing on Artemis 3 in 2025. The moon landing would send two astronauts, including the first woman on the moon, to the lunar south pole.
The Artemis 3 mission requires a huge lander and new space suits. While other companies are developing space suits, SpaceX is building a giant moon lander. The agency's plans will be affected if both components are late.
If our suits aren't ready, we're not going to land on the moon and the inverse is the same if our suits aren't ready.
NASA says it is committed to returning to the moon in a sustainable way. The hardware for Artemis 2 and future SLS boosters was built by the agency.
The Gateway space station will be a staging ground for lunar landings, and NASA has awarded contracts to build components of it. Nelson said NASA is aiming for a crewed landing on Mars in the late 20th century.
Nelson said there was a big universe to explore. The next step in the exploration is with our international partners.
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