The Artemis 1 moon mission is currently underway.
The launch of NASA's new Space Launch System rocket from Pad 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center marked the debut of the rocket and kicked off a 25-day journey to the moon.
The trek will put the module through it's paces. There is a primer on what to expect over the next few weeks.
Related: NASA's Artemis 1 moon mission: Live updates
More: 10 wild facts about the Artemis 1 moon mission
The next six days will be spent near the moon. The lowest lunar pass will take place next Monday, when it will fly within 100 kilometers of the lunar surface.
The moon's gravity will allow this maneuver to slingshot away. After T+10 days, the service module will perform a second burn to get the spaceship into a DRO, where it will stay for a week. The record for a crew-rated vehicle's greatest distance from Earth will be broken on mission day T+13.
While in DRO, a suite of passive and active sensors will measure radiation and other flight conditions to allow researchers to better understand the conditions astronauts will experience. The uncrewed Artemis 1 isn't completely empty.
The capsule's command chair is occupied by NASA's "Moonikin Campos", a manikin with internal sensors for radiation and gravimetric and vibrational forces. Two "phantom" manikins will also be present. These two limbless torso busts contain over 6,000 passive and 34 active dosimeters and will be used to study the effectiveness of a specialized radiation vest.
Materials that mimic human bone and muscles were used to build Helga and Zohar. The construction includes components that mimic the female body parts that are more vulnerable to radiation. Helga will serve as a control and only Zohar will wear the vest. Researchers will compare radiation exposure between the manikins once they return to Earth.
The AstroRad vest will allow astronauts to perform tasks around their spaceship if they need to avoid radiation. The areas of space farther away from our planet are more prone to radiation and therefore pose a higher risk for astronauts to come in contact with it.
On mission day T+16, the service module will perform its DRO departure burn, putting the vehicle on track for the second lowest lunar pass. One final burn will be performed by the service module to set the spaceship on its way back to Earth. It will take six days to get back to our marble.
It will be a huge test for the capsule and its heat shield when it comes back on December 11. The Artemis 1 mission will end with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.
If Artemis 1 goes well, Artemis 2 will send astronauts to the moon in 2024 or thereabouts, and Artemis 3 will land crew near the moon's south pole a year or so later. The main goal of the Artemis program is to build a sustainable human presence on the moon.
It had been a long time since Artemis 1 was launched. An off-nominal temperature reading in one of the SLS's main engines forced the mission team to call off the lift off on August 29th.
NASA believes the cause of the faulty reading was a faulty sensor rather than the cooling system. Mission operators encountered a hydrogen leak while loading propellant. Hurricane Ian and Tropical Storm Nicole caused further delays for Artemis 1.
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