NASA is about to launch one of the largest missions ever, Artemis I. A new era of deep space exploration, with the Moon being the first stop. Artemis I is the first integrated test for the Orion spacecraft, the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, and the ground system at NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This flight will demonstrate the capabilities of these systems and provide the foundation to support future human missions to the Moon.
What are some of the facts of this mission?
The launch is planned on August 29, 2022 from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The Orion spacecraft, which will go around the Moon, will be unmanned
SLS together with the Orion spacecraft weighs 5.75 million pounds
The spacecraft Orion, without fuel weighs only 30,965 pounds
The mission will last four weeks.
The SLS launch rocket, which carries the Orion spacecraft, will produce 4,000 tons of propulsion during its ascent.
Artemis I is the first test of systems in NASA's deep space exploration program. The Orion spacecraft, the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, and ground systems at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, will be tested during this first uncrewed flight. The success of Artemis I will lay the foundation for future human exploration of deep space, beginning on the Moon and then going beyond.
The Orion spacecraft will travel miles and miles beyond the moon, on a mission that will last four to six weeks. The one-way trip to the Moon will take several days. When it arrives, Orion will fly about 69 miles above the surface of the Moon, and then enter another orbit about 43, 730 miles from the surface. The spacecraft will improve in that orbit for about six days to collect data and enable evaluation of the spacecraft.
For its return trip to Earth, Orion made another 69 miles flyby of the Moon's surface, where it fired its thruster again to accelerate its return to Earth. When Orion enters our planet's atmosphere it will be traveling at 25,000 mph, heating up to approximately 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit as it enters Earth's atmosphere, and will finally land with a gentle splash off the coast of Baja California.