In July, NASA confirmed its epic new Artemis 1 mega-rocket would launch in late August or early September, and now all systems are a go for August 29th. Here’s how to watch NASA’s uncrewed mission heading to the moon.
This initial uncrewed mission will send Artemis I beyond the moon, reaching distances more than 280,000 miles away from Earth. Then, it’ll return to Earth faster than any capsule in NASA’s history. The end goal, however, is to continue space exploration technology and eventually put another man and woman on the moon later this decade.
How to Watch the Artemis I Launch Live
You’ll be able to watch NASA’s Artemis 1 in the early hours of August 29th, 2022. The mission is scheduled for liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center during a two-hour launch window starting at 8:33 AM ET. The event’s live coverage fires up at 6:30 AM ET on NASA’s Artemis YouTube channel for the Kennedy Space Station embedded below.
Additionally, fans can tune in and keep up on the latest news through the official NASA app. On Monday, NASA fans can watch space engineers load fuel into the rocket, test all the systems, and prepare for launch. Hopefully we don’t get any famous quotes like, “Houston, we’ve had a problem.”
If the Artemis I mega-rocket can launch on the 29th, the mission would last 42 days. Orion will wander more than 280,000 miles away from Earth, travel nearly 1.3 million miles, and land somewhere in the Pacific Ocean on October 10th.
The main goal of this mission is to test the new Orion capsule and heat shield. According to Mike Sarafin, Artemis mission manager, Orion will travel at speeds over 24,500 miles per hour and reach temperatures half as hot as the sun.
If everything goes as planned, this new platform will do a second crewed Artemis II mission and fly-by. Later, a third Artemis III mission will return NASA astronauts to the moon’s surface sometime in 2025, marking the first time humans have landed on the moon in over 50 years.
via Gizmodo
