D-Day for the Artemis I mission

It’s D-Day for the Artemis I mission. With the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket due to take off this Monday at 8:33 a.m. from Florida, at 2:33 p.m. Swiss time.

This mission will be done without astronauts, but it is an important step to test the American rocket and the Orion capsule. The latter will travel tens of kilometers from the moon, and will use the gravity of the natural satellite to propel itself 70,000 kilometers beyond the Moon. Aerospace journalist Roland Keller is on site. According to him, all the conditions are met for the rocket to take off on Monday. About 100,000 people are expected along the coast to attend the launch.

The rocket launched on Monday will follow an almost identical trajectory to those of the Apollo missions between 1969 and 1972, but many improvements have been made to the SLS rocket. Consists of going to the moon and spinning around and coming back in good condition. “With Artemis II, the rocket will be able to carry two astronauts who will go around the moon and Artemis III will allow men to be placed on the moon”, explains Roland Keller. /jmp-gtr