NASA’s lunar spacecraft is sealed up for launch.
Artemis 1 technicians closed the door on the Orion spacecraft Thursday (Aug. 25) in preparation to launch to the moon on Monday (Aug. 29) atop the Space Launch System (SLS) megarocket.
“The crew module hatch was closed at approximately 3:30 a.m. Thursday,” NASA acknowledged in a blog post (opens in new tab) describing a few of the final steps earlier than liftoff from the company’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
“Meteorologists with the U.S. Space Force Space Launch Delta 45 currently predict a 70% chance of favorable weather conditions for launch on Aug. 29,” the company added. Periodic rain showers stay the first concern for launching on time at 8:33 a.m. EDT (1233 GMT), though the launch window does lengthen for 2 hours.
Related: NASA’s Artemis 1 moon mission: Live updates
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Artemis 1 is the debut installment of the Artemis program, which goals to place astronauts across the moon in 2024 with Artemis 2 and upon the lunar floor in 2025 with Artemis 3. NASA is framing this system as a possibility to check out know-how, procedures and {hardware} forward of bringing people to Mars.
The uncrewed Artemis 1 will loop across the moon for an roughly 40-day mission to check the system’s endurance towards radiation, space climate, chilly and different elements of the space surroundings forward of certifying it for people.
The two-day countdown for Artemis 1 will start on Sunday (Aug. 28) because the SLS rocket targets its first-ever launch. The booster, which is probably the most highly effective NASA has but constructed, has gone via quite a few floor checks together with a close to 50-hour-long “wet dress rehearsal” fueling testing in June.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris might be among the many attendees on the launch on Monday, her workplace confirmed in an exclusive to Space.com printed Friday (Aug. 26). Harris will tour KSC and ship a speech regarding NASA space management.
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