The SLS rocket arrives at Launch Pad 39B, on August 17, 2022.
NASA/Joel Kowsky
NASA’s Space Launch System rocket is set to launch its first uncrewed mission to the moon on September 3.
Artemis I is an uncrewed test flight that will set the stage for future Artemis missions with astronauts.
Watch the historic SLS rocket launch live, in the NASA broadcast below.
NASA is once again counting down to launch its Artemis I uncrewed test flight, which sets the stage for humanity’s return to the moon. Saturday marks NASA’s second attempt after Monday’s launch was called off.
“There’s no guarantee that we’re going to get off on Saturday, but we’re gonna try,” Mike Sarafin, Artemis mission manager, said during a news conference on Thursday, September 1.
If the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket successfully launches, shoots its Orion spaceship around the moon, and the spaceship survives the fiery plummet back through Earth’s atmosphere, NASA could be on track to put boots on the lunar surface in 2025 — the first human moon landing since 1972. Eventually, NASA plans to build a permanent base on the moon and mine resources there, before sending astronauts on to Mars.
The rocket is sitting on Launchpad 39B at Kennedy Space Center. It was originally supposed to lift off on Monday, August 29, but engine issues emerged during countdown and delayed the launch. After troubleshooting those issues, NASA says its next launch attempt will be on Saturday, September 3, during a two-hour window that opens at 2:17 p.m. ET.
Watch the launch live on NASA’s broadcast below, starting when technicians begin filling the rocket with fuel at 5:45 a.m. ET. NASA plans to keep broadcasting until about 11:15 p.m., when the Orion spacecraft is set to beam back its first imagery of Earth.
A backup window is also available on Monday, September 5, if any last-minute technical issues or weather delays arise. More than 400,000 visitors are expected to gather near NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Saturday to view the inaugural launch, according to the Space Coast’s tourism office.
In a bid to return astronauts to the lunar surface for the first time since 1972, NASA has spent 17 years and an estimated $50 billion developing the SLS rocket and its Orion spaceship, according to The Planetary Society.
An illustration of the Space Launch System lifting off from the launchpad in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
NASA
The bright new SLS rocket stands taller than the Statue of Liberty, at 23 stories, with the spaceship secured up top. Four car-sized engines and two rocket boosters should give it enough thrust to push through the thickest parts of the atmosphere. If everything goes smoothly, Orion will clock a total distance of approximately 1.3 million miles over 37 days. It will zip as close as 60 miles above the lunar surface, allowing lunar gravity to sling it 40,000 miles past the moon before heading back to Earth for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean in October.
Scientists will assess how future astronauts will experience the stresses of space by measuring how much cosmic radiation mannequins aboard the Orion capsule endured during the test flight. The mission will also launch several CubeSats, or miniature satellites, with science missions.
However, NASA’s main goal with Artemis I is to test every function of the launch and spaceflight system — including Orion’s communication and navigation systems and its heat shield, which must withstand a fiery plummet through Earth’s atmosphere at 25,000 miles per hour at temperatures reaching 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit — before risking human lives in future missions.
If the uncrewed Orion spaceship makes it around the moon and back without a hitch, the Artemis II mission will carry astronauts on a similar roundabout. The Artemis III mission aims to put humans on the moon in 2025.
This post has been updated with new information. It was originally published on August 29, 2022.