The uncrewed Artemis I launch marks the debut of the most powerful rocket ever assembled and kicks off NASA’s long-awaited return to the moon’s surface.
lead the effort. According to NASA, the Artemis program supports about 70,000 jobs around the country.
NASA's SLS moon mega rocket topped by the Orion spacecraft rolls out of the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center on its way to launch complex 39B for a launch rehearsal on March 17, 2022 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. SLS's core stage gets its orange color from the thermal protection system that covers it, which is a spray-on foam insulation. For the first three Artemis missions, NASA is using a variation of SLS known as Block 1. For later missions, NASA plans to roll out an even more powerful variation, known as Block 1B.NASA's Orion capsule can carry four astronauts on missions up to 21 days long without docking with another spacecraft.
Artemis I will travel about 1.3 million miles over the course of 42 days, spanning several phases. After separating from SLS, the capsule will deploy solar arrays and begin a multi-day journey to the moon – departing from Earth's orbit in what is known as a"trans-lunar injection."