New Delhi: Fifty years after Apollo, NASA is aiming for the moon once again.
Artemis I, comprising the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion space capsule, is set for its maiden liftoff between 8:33 am ET (6 pm Indian time) and 10:33 am ET in a two-hour launch window from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday.
If the rocket is unable to launch Monday, the next launch window will be available on Friday (September 2).
SLS is the most powerful rocket ever built, 322-ft tall and weighing 2,600 tonne.
Artemis I is an uncrewed mission, the first step of the Artemis program, which aims to put humans on the moon once again and then on Mars.
The Artemis I mission will last 42 days, travelling 1.3 million miles or 2.1 million kilometres from earth to orbit the moon, which will include two close fly-bys 62 miles above the lunar surface. The capsule will splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, California, on October 10.
Although Orion is uncrewed, NASA has put mannequins — including a mannequin called Commander Moonikin Campos sitting in the commander’s seat to honour a legendary NASA engineer who helped bring Apollo 13 safely back to earth — in the space capsule before allowing real astronauts to fly in them. A soft toy will float around the capsule that will help the space agency study the effects of zero gravity.
There will also be a package called Callisto onboard Orion, housing an Amazon Alexa and a touchscreen to test smart tools that future astronauts might use on Orion.
A second mission, Artemis II, is scheduled in 2024, carrying a crew of four to lunar orbit. Although it won’t land on the moon, it will be for the first time that humans will travel beyond low-earth orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972 when Harrison Schmitt and Eugene Cernan became the last of only 12 people, all men, to set foot on the moon under the Apollo programme.
NASA aims to land two astronauts, including the first woman, on the moon’s south pole by the end of 2025, with two others orbiting the moon in a command module.
In Greek mythology, Artemis is the twin sister of Apollo.
The SLS is 15 per cent more powerful than the Apollo-era Saturn V rockets and is powered by four RS-25 engines recycled from the now retired Space Shuttle program.
NASA will share live views and coverage of the Artemis I launch on its website and on NASA TV.
Later in the day, the agency will share earth views from cameras aboard the Orion spacecraft.
