KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — Artemis I isn’t just a mission to orbit the moon. It’s the beginning of a new era for NASA that promises to not just return humans to the lunar surface, but to press on to Mars.
“We are explorers and adventurers as a species,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson at a news conference Saturday. “That basically is the fulfillment of our destiny. But in that exploration, we’re going to learn new things and develop new things that are going to improve ― just as it’s been under our space program — our lives here on Earth.”
That’s the high-minded end goal of the Artemis program, originally announced by President Obama in 2012, but pushed forward by both President Trump and Biden, on a timeline that will last through at least the next five presidential terms with humans walking on Mars by 2040 if not earlier, Nelson said.
Bhavya Lal, NASA associate administrator for technology, policy and strategy, said the program has a “politically resilient architecture” that can help see the missions through.
“NASA is at a historic inflection point, poised to begin the most significant series of science and human exploration missions in over a generation,” she said.
That future, though, relies on the success of Monday’s planned launch of the first Artemis flight, when the Space Launch System rocket topped with the Orion spacecraft looks to lift off from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-B during a two-hour window that opens at 8:33 a.m. Space Launch Delta 45′s weather squadron’s forecast calls for a 70% chance for good launch conditions. Backup launch opportunities fall on Sept. 2 and Sept. 5.
Making history
If it lights, the SLS will become the most powerful rocket ever to lift off from Earth, sending Orion into space with 8.8 million pounds of thrust, surpassing the strength generated during the Apollo launches of the 1960s and '70s.
The uncrewed Orion capsule is on tap for a 42-day mission that will travel more than 1.3 million miles orbiting the moon on a new looping trajectory dozens of times, sending it out nearly 280,000 miles from Earth and 40,000 miles beyond the moon, farther than any human-rated spacecraft has ever flown.
The return journey will bring the capsule in hot, traveling at 24,500 mph to reach reentry temperatures near 5,000 degrees before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean.
“We have a lean-forward strategy on Artemis I because it is an uncrewed test flight,” said Artemis mission manager Mike Sarafin. “Because we are looking at this from the macro perspective, and the manifest perspective, we are trying to buy down risk for crewed flight so we’re willing to take more risk on Artemis I, on an uncrewed test flight, than we would on a later crewed flight.”
Setting up the future
Artemis II will bring four astronauts on a similar mission to orbit the moon, but only for eight days with a launch planned for no earlier than May 2024. NASA officials with the Astronaut Corps said the names of those four crew members are expected to come before the end of the year.
Artemis III will return humans, including the first woman, to the lunar surface for the first time since Apollo 17 astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmidt headed back home on Dec. 14, 1972. The mission is still targeted for 2025, although budget oversight officials have suggested it’s likely to slip to 2026. While four will fly out on Orion, only two will head to the surface. That can’t happen, though, until NASA receives new spacesuits being developed by commercial partners, and not before SpaceX builds out a version of its in-the-works Starship, which was awarded the sole contract for NASA’s Human Landing System for Artemis III. Its destination is the moon’s south pole where scientists say there may be water ice hidden in the shadows of lunar craters that never see the light of the sun. That resource could be harvested to help create both air to breathe and fuel for rockets.
Artemis IV will see a larger version of the SLS rocket bringing out pieces to a lunar space station called Gateway that while much smaller than the International Space Station, is designed to be a weigh station for Orion while astronauts venture to the lunar surface.
After that, future Artemis missions seek to fly at least once a year to continue out a continued lunar presence with an eye on venturing on to Mars.
“What happens after Mars and at the very highest level, our goal isn’t just to go visit a place right? It’s to bring the solar system and beyond into our into our economic realm.” Lal said. “It’s sort of saying, what happened after the Lewis and Clark expedition? Well, there was so much that happened after that, right? So in this it’s sort of the same analogy. ... We want to learn to live off the land for the long-term. And those are the sorts of things that we want to do after Mars.”
The hardware
The 5.75 million-pound, 322-foot-tall combination of the Space Launch System, Orion capsule and mobile launcher are taller and heavier than the space shuttles.
SLS is made up of a 212-foot-tall core stage built by Boeing with four RS-25 engines from Aerojet Rocketdyne that were previously used in the space shuttle program. They’ll blow through 730,000 gallons of super-cooled liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen on liftoff along with two solid rocket boosters from Northrop Grumman that will provide the majority of oomph needed to get the massive rocket up into low-Earth orbit.
For the first three Artemis missions, United Launch Alliance along with Aerojet Rocketdyne are providing even more thrust via the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage that will raise Orion to an altitude during a short orbit around Earth and send it on its way on a trans-lunar injection. At that point, the ICPS breaks off and propulsion is in the hands of international partner the European Space Agency with a service module that will adjust its track both to, around and back home from the moon.
What’s along for the ride
While no humans are flying, there will be three mannequins — Commander Moonikin Campos, Zohar and Helga — as well as a zero gravity indicator in the form of plush Snoopy doll.
Campos was named to honor the late Arturo Campos, who helped NASA bring the Apollo 13 crew safely back to Earth, and will be wearing the astronaut survival spacesuit that will be the outfits of future human astronauts. Unlike the suits of the space shuttle era, these will be able to keep astronauts alive for six days in the event of an emergency. Zohar and Helga are only partial mannequins and only one will get to wear a special radiation protection vest, which is important since solar flares and gamma rays are a greater risk when astronauts travel farther away from Earth.
Also hitching a ride are 10 small satellites that will be deployed while Orion is on its way to the moon. Some of them have lunar science assignments themselves such as searching for ice, and even one that will attempt a soft landing on the surface.
Launch day and the future
Vice President Kamala Harris will be on site for the launch as well as Apollo 17′s Schmitt and Apollo 10 astronaut Thomas Stafford.
Astronaut Victor Glover, who flew to the International Space Station in 2020, will be among current astronauts involved in NASA’s live launch coverage Monday morning.
“When those four RS-25s and those two solids light, I hope the whole world is watching,” he said during the original Artemis I rollout this past spring. “And I hope a lot of kids decide to study science and math. Because that’s really what it’s about — inspiring kids to go out and be their best selves.”
Glover is also one of 18 astronauts named by NASA to be in the running for future potential Artemis flights.
“I am excited because this is a great step for humanity. We call things that humans come together to do — we put aside our differences and we accomplish great things — we call it moonshots,” he said. “It’s been a long time since we’ve actually made a moonshot. So our generation now has a chance to have our own actual moonshot.”
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LAUNCH
What: Artemis I rocket launch on 42-day mission to the moon
When: Monday, during 8:33-10:33 a.m. EDT window; backup windows on Friday Sept. 2 and Monday, Sept. 5
Weather: 70% chance for good conditions
Where to watch: Live coverage begins on NASA TV at nasa.gov/live and its social media channels at 6:30 a.m.
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