NASA is launching its Artemis 1 Moon rocket this Bank Holiday Monday from the Kennedy Space Centre in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The mission will see the first launch of the new 322ft Space Launch System rocket, which the agency says is the world’s most powerful rocket to date.
It will take the Orion capsule, powered by the Airbus-built European Service Module (ESM), into the Moon’s orbit. The mission duration is 42 days, 3 hours, 20 minutes, and in total the capsule will travel 1.3 million miles, before splashing down on Monday October 10.
The uncrewed flight marks the next chapter in putting humans back on the Moon, and is the first in Nasa’s Artemis programme. The UK is part of the Artemis programme, making contributions to the Lunar Gateway – a space station currently in development with the European Space Agency – working alongside the US, Europe, Canada and Japan.
The Artemis mission will be tracked in the UK from Goonhilly Earth Station in Cornwall. Libby Jackson, exploration science manager at the UK Space Agency, said: “The first launch of the Artemis 1 SLS rocket is an important step for the global space community as we prepare to return humans to the Moon.
"The Artemis programme marks the next chapter of human space exploration and we look forward to continued involvement as it comes to life.”
There will be astronauts on board for subsequent missions, with the first crewed flight into space scheduled for 2024. Nasa expects the first Artemis astronauts to land on the Moon in 2025.
The livestream can be viewed on Youtube here.
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