Countdown begins for first moon launch in 53 years
NASA’s Artemis II mission is due to launch on April 1 sending four astronauts on a 10-day lunar flyby to test systems for future moon landings.
NASA has begun the countdown for launching the Artemis II mission – humanity’s first launch to the moon in 53 years.
The 32-storey Space Launch System rocket is poised to blast off on April 1 (Thursday AEDT) with four astronauts from Florida’s Kennedy Space Centre.
After a day in orbit around Earth, their Orion capsule will propel them to the moon and back.
There are no stops – just a quick U-turn around the moon. The nearly 10-day flight will end with a splashdown in the Pacific.
You might like
“Our team has worked extremely hard to get us to this moment,” said launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson.
“Certainly all indications are right now we are in excellent, excellent shape.”
Managers said the rocket is doing well following the latest round of repairs. Forecasters said the weather should cooperate.
NASA’s Artemis II mission should have soared in February, but was grounded by hydrogen fuel leaks. The leaks were fixed, but then a helium pressurisation line became clogged, forcing a return to the hangar late last month. The rocket returned to the pad one-and-a-half weeks ago, and its US-Canadian crew arrived at the launch site on Friday.
NASA has the first six days of April to launch Artemis II before standing down until the end of the month.
Want to see more stories from InDaily SA in your Google search results?
- Click here to set InDaily SA as a preferred source.
- Tick the box next to "InDaily SA". That's it.
