NASA’s Artemis I Moon Rocket Returns to Launch Pad 39B | Kennedy Space Center

NASA’s Artemis I Moon Rocket Returns to Launch Pad 39B | Kennedy Space Center

NASA’s Artemis I Moon rocket and mobile launcher—carried atop the crawler-transporter 2—can be seen following their arrival at Launch Pad 39B at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida on June 6, 2022. The rocket rolled out of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) in the early morning hours to travel the 4.2 miles to the launch pad for NASA’s next wet dress rehearsal attempt ahead of the Artemis I launch. 

The first in an increasingly complex series of missions, Artemis I will test the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft as an integrated system prior to crewed flights to the Moon. Through Artemis, NASA will land the first woman and first person of color on the lunar surface, paving the way for a long-term lunar presence and using the Moon as a steppingstone before venturing to Mars. 

Artemis I launch is currently scheduled for 2022.

Artemis I will be an uncrewed flight test that will provide a foundation for human deep space exploration, and demonstrate NASA's commitment and capability to extend human existence to the Moon and beyond.  It will travel 280,000 miles from Earth, thousands of miles beyond the Moon over the course of about a three-week mission. Orion will stay in space longer than any ship for astronauts has done without docking to a space station and return home faster and hotter than ever before.

Learn more about Artemis I at:

https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis

https://www.nasa.gov/artemis-1

Read the Artemis Plan (74-page PDF Free Download): 

https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/artemis_plan-20200921.pdf

NASA's Space Launch System (SLS)

https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/index.html

NASA's Orion Spacecraft

https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/orion/about/index.html

Image Credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky

Image Date: June 6, 2022

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