NASA Artemis 1 Mission Orion spacecraft now on launchpad! Moon launch on August 29

NASA has finally rolled out the rocket and the Orion spacecraft for its Artemis 1 Mission after changing the schedule last week. NASA has rolled out the spacecraft and rocket days earlier than what the agency had originally planned. The agency had been planning to roll out the Artemis 1 Space Launch System (SLS) rocket to the Kennedy Space Center on August 18 but has already rolled it out on the evening of August 16. The Artemis 1 launch is scheduled for August 29.

NASA wrote in a tweet on August 16, "@NASA is targeting as soon as 9 pm EDT on Tuesday, Aug. 16 for rollout of @NASA_SLS ahead of a targeted Aug. 29 #Artemis I launch.”

Although the Artemis SLS rocket and the Crawler only had to travel 4 miles, the journey took nearly 10 hours. The roll out began at 9pm EDT as planned and was finally completed around 7am EDT.

The Artemis Programme is NASA’s first attempt to send a manned mission to the Moon since the Apollo missions in 1972. Earlier this month, NASA administrator Bill Nelson said, “To all of us that gaze up at the Moon, dreaming of the day humankind returns to the lunar surface, folks, we're here. We are going back.”

The launch is scheduled for August 29 at 9:33am from the Kennedy Space Center. NASA has also scheduled September 2 and September 5 as backup launch dates in-case of failure to launch on August 29 due to bad weather or any other condition.

What is Artemis 1 Mission?

According to NASA, Artemis I will be the first uncrewed flight test of the Space Launch System rocket and the Orion spacecraft. When NASA launches the Artemis 1 mission using the Space Launcher System on August 29, the Orion spacecraft, although unmanned, will carry 3 manikins called Zohar, Helga and Campos to space as human stand-ins for various tests and studies. They will be retrofitted with a vast number of sensors to conduct tests regarding the spaceflight.