NASA to launch Moon missions series in August

According to a statement by the NASA agency on Wednesday, the Artemis program could be launched in August.

Artemis-1 Mission

The first window of possible launch dates for the Giant Space Launch System (SLS) and the Orion crew capsule were August 29, September 2 and September 5, NASA Associate Administrator Jim Frey told reporters.

The decision was made after a final check on Earth at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, known as a “wet dress rehearsal.”

The last of those tests, conducted in June, met 90 percent of the team’s goals, and on Wednesday senior manager of vehicle operations, Cliff Lynham said engineers have now replaced the faulty seals. The cause was a hydrogen leak on the SLS during the final trial.

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Artemis mission manager Mike Sarafan told reporters: “Our first and foremost goal is to demonstrate Orion’s heat shield under lunar re-entry conditions.”

When the capsule returns from the Moon, it will be traveling at about 24,500 mph (39,400 km/h) and will experience half the temperature of the Sun outside its heat shield.

Another objective is to demonstrate the flight ability of the rocket and crew capsule as they perform all their maneuvers during the mission.

Finally, NASA will attempt to successfully recover Orion after the splashdown, and conduct a thorough inspection.

What is Artemis-1?

Artemis-1 is the first in a series of missions as the United States tries to use lessons learned to return humans to the Moon, establish a permanent presence there, and plan a trip to Mars sometime in the 2030s.

Artemis-1 is set to travel around the far side of the moon in a four- to the six-week mission, the first ever for astronauts to do so without docking before each spacecraft competes. Before returning home faster and warmer.

It will also deploy a number of small satellites called CubeSats to conduct experiments in space.

Artemis-2 will be the first crewed test, flying around the moon but not landing, while Artemis-3 will see the first woman and the first person of color touch down on the moon’s south pole.