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NASA's begins countdown for Artemis 1 moon mission launch

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  • NASA's begins countdown for Artemis 1 moon mission launch

    The clock is ticking to the Artemis 1 moon mission launch on Aug. 29.

    By Tariq Malik published about 6 hours ago

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The countdown is on for NASA's biggest test flight of the year.

    At 10:23 a.m. EDT (1423 GMT) today (Aug. 27), the countdown clock began ticking down to the planned launch of NASA's Artemis 1 mission, an ambitious first flight to the moon by the agency's most powerful rocket ever — the Space Launch System (SLS) — and its Orion spacecraft. The uncrewed test flight is scheduled to launch Monday (Aug. 29) at 8:33 a.m. EDT (1233 GMT) from Pad 39B here at the Kennedy Space Center.

    "This first launch is another step in the blueprint of our sustainable exploration of the solar system," Jim Free, NASA's associate administrator for exploration systems development, told reporters here in a briefing Friday. You can watch the Artemis 1 moon mission launch live online, courtesy of NASA TV. A live webcast will begin Monday at 6:30 a.m. EDT (1030 GMT).

    ... The mission flight will send an uncrewed Orion capsule on a 42-day trip to orbit the moon and return to Earth to test if the spacecraft is ready to carry astronauts.

    ... During the two-day countdown for Artemis 1, NASA launch controllers will put the mission's 322-foot-tall (98 meters) Space Launch System megarocket and its Orion spacecraft through their final paces for flight. Engineers closed the hatch on the Orion capsule for the last time on Thursday (Aug. 25).

    On Friday, engineers also closed the hatch on the SLS rocket's launch abort system, which sits atop the Orion spacecraft, and retracted the crew access arm astronauts will eventually use to board the spacecraft for future missions.

    NASA will begin fueling the SLS rocket in the wee hours Monday morning, which NASA will webcast live at 12 a.m. EDT (0400 GMT).



  • #2
    NASA

    - ABOUT THE MISSION -

    Artemis I

    All eyes will be on the historic Launch Complex 39B when the Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket lift off for the first time from NASA's modernized Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

    Artemis I will be the first in a series of increasingly complex missions to build a long-term human presence at the Moon for decades to come.

    The primary goals for Artemis I are to demonstrate Orion’s systems in a spaceflight environment and ensure a safe re-entry, descent, splashdown, and recovery prior to the first flight with crew on Artemis II.

    Mission Facts:
    • Launch date: Aug. 29, 2022
    • Mission duration: 42 days, 3 hours, 20 minutes
    • Total distance traveled: 1.3 miIlion miles
    • Re-entry speed: 24,500 mph (Mach 32)
    • Splashdown: Oct. 10, 2022
    SPACE LAUNCH SYSTEM ROCKET

    The most powerful rocket in the world, designed to send humans to deep space.

    HEIGHT — 322 feet
    MASS AT LIFTOFF — 5.75 million pounds
    THRUST AT LIFTOFF — 8.8 million pounds
    PAYLOAD TO THE MOON — 59,000 pounds


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    • #3
      Fuel leak delays NASA's Artemis 1 moon mission launch

      By Tariq Malik
      published about 6 hours ago

      CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA called off the second attempt to launch an ambitious test flight of its new moon rocket on Saturday (Sept. 3), this time because of a stubborn leak that delayed fueling.

      The space agency hoped to launch its Artemis 1moon mission atop a towering Space Launch System (SLS) megarocket at 2:17 p.m. EDT (1817 GMT) on Saturday, but a hydrogen fuel leak detected about seven hours before liftoff thwarted the attempt.

      ... NASA engineers repeatedly tried to staunch the fuel leak during the Artemis 1 countdown. First, they tried to warm the tank connector and chill it with cold fuel to reseat the hydrogen quick disconnect connector. Next, engineers tried to repressurize it with helium, and then returned to the warm-and-chill method to stop the leak. All three attempts failed.

      The delay, the second this week for NASA's Artemis 1 moon mission, means the agency will have to wait until Monday (Sept. 5) at the earliest to make its next launch attempt. And that's if the source of the leak can be fixed in time.

      "We'll go when it's ready. We don't go until then, and especially now on a test flight," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in televised comments after the scrub. "This is part of the space business."

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