NASA's Artemis moon mission gets green signal for August 29 launch

The Artemis mission, which is aiming to put astronauts back on the moon almost 50 years later, has received the green light from NASA to conduct its first official launch on August 29. The United States space agency conducted a Flight Readiness Review on Monday where they assessed the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft as well as the launching site at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

According to the official statement released by NASA, the launch is set to be conducted in a two-hour window on August 29 with backup launch plans on September 2 and September 5. While the infrastructure was completely reviewed by NASA. Concerns remain over possible bad weather.

Mike Sarafin, NASA's Artemis mission manager, told Reuters that the team is currently happy with the preparations for the launch and one open team remains to be tested on the day of the launch.

“The test will occur during a quiescent point ahead of the final countdown”, said Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, Artemis I launch director at Kennedy Space Center, according to Space.com.

This year marked the 50th anniversary of NASA sending astronauts to the moon and the Artemis mission aims at repeating the feat. The launch, however, will be an unmanned one with the Orion spacecraft carrying “4.4 kilograms of mementos, including toys, Apollo 11 items and three mannequins”.

A mannequin called Commander Moonikin Campos will be seated at the commander’s seat in the aircraft and the simulation will help NASA scientists to understand how the journey will affect human astronauts. The final goal of Artemis is to complete a manned mission by 2025.

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