That’s the conclusion of NASA’s Flight Readiness Review conducted on Monday. The review was an in-depth assessment of the readiness of the 322-foot (98 m) long stack, consisting of the Space Launch System rocket and the Orion spacecraft, currently on the launch pad at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. .
The Artemis team is planning its first two-hour launch window from 8:33am ET to 10:33am ET on Monday, August 29th. There are backup launch windows on September 2nd and 5th.
The rocket cluster reached the launch pad on Aug. 17, following exiting the Vehicle Assembly Building following a 4-mile (6.4-kilometer) journey aboard one of NASA’s giant Apollo-era crawlers from the assembly building to the launch pad — just like the Shuttle missions and Apollo -Saturn V rockets once did.
I will launch the unmanned Artemis I on a mission beyond the moon and back to Earth. After launch, the spacecraft will reach a distant retrograde orbit around the moon, covering 1.3 million miles (2.1 million km) over a period of 42 days. Artemis I will crash into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego on October 10th. Orion’s return will be faster and hotter than any spacecraft seen making its way back to Earth.
The Orion spacecraft will travel farther than any spacecraft ever designed for humans, reaching 40,000 miles (64,000 kilometers) beyond the far side of the moon, according to NASA.
There are no people on board, but Orion will be carrying 120 pounds (54.4 kilograms) of memorabilia, including toys, Apollo 11 items and three statues.
At Orion’s commander’s headquarters will be Commander Monnequin Campos, a proper mannequin capable of gathering data on what the human crew might encounter on a trip to the moon in the future. The model will wear the new Orion Crew Survival System suit designed for astronauts to wear during launch and return. The suit has two radiation sensors.
This mission will launch NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to return humans to the Moon and land the first woman and humans of color on the Moon by 2025 – eventually making way for human exploration of Mars.
Artemis I will also carry a number of science experiments, some of which will be installed once the rocket and spacecraft reach the launch pad.