NASA’s Artemis I moon mission explained

The Space Launch System(SLS), is NASA’s latest flagship rocket, designed to carry people and cargo to the far reaches of space.

It’s designed to lead a major role in NASA’s Artemis I programme with the aim to send its first woman and person of colour to the Moon by mid 2020s. It's capable of lifting 60,000 pounds of cargo to the orbits beyond the Moon. 

The SLS designed the new crew capsule, Orion, to carry future astronauts to the lunar surface.  (Image Courtesy: NASA)

The rocket took nearly a decade in making. NASA and Boeing have been working on SLS since the early 2010s.

The 322-foot (98 meter) rocket is expected to be the most powerful in history, rolled out two weeks ago at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. (Image Courtesy: NASA)

The SLS is set to launch Artemis - I. The first flight is also a rehearsal. The agency will fly the rocket which will launch Orion on a four to six weeks mission to the Moon without any crew to showcase the capabilities of the vehicle.

But before this, NASA wants to go through all the steps for the launch also known as wet dress rehearsal.

It ensures NASA's flight controllers to go through the entire countdown plan just as they will do on the launch day. During a press conference on the rehearsal, NASA’s Artemis launch director, Charlie Blackwell-Thompson said, “It closely follows launch countdown. There are a couple of minor differences, but they are, in fact, minor.”

The only difference in is that the countdown won’t reach T-minus zero so there won’t be an actual launch. On Sunday morning, the SLS rocket and Orion crew capsule will be fixed on top powered with 700,000 gallons (2.6 million litres) of propellant. (Image Courtesy: NASA)

For those who wish to follow the test, NASA will be posting on its Artemis blog, it will also provide details on its Twitter account and the live views of the SLS will stream on NASA’s YouTube channel.

For this weekend, NASA’s and space hardcore fans can follow along with the updates available online. This is also a test launch for NASA’s social team as well which will be working overtime when the Artemis I actually launches. (Image Courtesy: NASA)

However, NASA won’t allow the public to hear the live internal audio.

NASA’s senior official Tom Whitmeyer explained the reason saying certain key information including timing sequences could assist other countries looking to develop long-range missiles which fall under the control regulations of International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). (Image Courtesy: NASA)