NASA Artemis I Moon Rocket Prelaunch: Tanking Underway | Kennedy Space Center

NASA Artemis I Moon Rocket Prelaunch: Tanking Underway | Kennedy Space Center

NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion spacecraft aboard is seen atop the mobile launcher at Launch Pad 39B, Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2022, as the Artemis I launch teams load more than 700,000 gallons of cryogenic propellants including liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen as the launch countdown progresses at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s Artemis I flight test is the first integrated test of the agency’s deep space exploration systems: the Orion spacecraft, SLS rocket, and supporting ground systems. Launch of the uncrewed flight test is targeted for no earlier than no earlier Nov. 16 at 1:04 a.m. EST. 

The first in a series of increasingly complex missions, 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.

On the Artemis III Mission, NASA will land the first woman and the first person of color on the surface of the Moon, paving the way for a long-term lunar presence and serving as a steppingstone on the way to Mars. 

Learn more about Artemis I at:

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

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

Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky/Keegan Barber

Image Date: Nov. 15, 2022

#NASA #ESA #Space #Moon #Artemis #ArtemisI #Orion #Spacecraft #SLS #Rocket #DeepSpace #Astronauts #MoonToMars #Science #Engineering #Technology #Exploration #SolarSystem #KSC #KennedySpaceCenter #Florida #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education