The Orion capsule, after separating from the SLS rocket, will spend about six weeks in space and travel at one point nearly 40,000 miles (64,000 km) past the Moon - farther than any human-grade vehicle has ever gone. Hotels along the coast have been fully booked for several weeks, and there are only a limited number of parking spaces near the best viewpoints.Īrtemis 1 is a test flight without any astronauts on board. Liftoff is currently scheduled for 2:17 pm (18:17 GMT) on Saturday, with the potential for up to a two-hour delay if necessary. The fact that the launch is scheduled for a weekend, with Monday also a US holiday, means that the crowd is likely to be much larger, said Meagan Happel with the Space Coast Office of Tourism.Īs on Monday, traffic is expected to get heavy “three to four hours” before the launch, Happel told AFP. A cluster of cities encircles the western and northern portions of the Bay in a mosaic of gray, green and white. This Landsat satellite image of Tampa Bay on the western coast of Florida, shows just how close people have come to the ends of the Earth. “We are ‘guesstimating’ the launch viewing crowd to number between 200,000 to 400,000 people,” Walker told AFP.įor comparison, SpaceX’s first manned launch in 2020 - amid the pandemic - drew 220,000 people. The damage to development by flooding, winds, and storm surges can be severe. On Monday, when a first launch attempt had to be scuttled at the last moment due to technical issues, local Brevard County authorities had expected between 100,000 and 200,000 visitors.ĭon Walker, the county’s communications director, says that though Monday’s numbers have yet to be finalized, they estimate “double that amount on Saturday.” “So I want to feel that power and what they felt in the 1960s.” “I remember being a little kid and some of the (Apollo) lunar landings,” Alberto Tirado told AFP on Cocoa Beach, the day before the rocket’s scheduled launch. The Kennedy Space Center will be closed to the public, but spectators on local beaches will be able to see the most powerful vehicle that NASA has ever launched climb into the sky. If the uncrewed Space Launch System (SLS) lifts off successfully, it will be not only awe-inspiring but historic for NASA, marking the first of its Artemis missions plotting a return to the Moon. Astronauts last walked on the moon in 1972.Up to 400,000 visitors are expected to flock to the Florida coast on Saturday, hoping to catch a glimpse - and hear the roar - of NASA’s rocket launch to the Moon. The $4.1 billion test flight is NASA’s first step in sending astronauts around the moon in 2024 and landing them on the surface in 2025. My role is to remind them you don’t take any chances that are not acceptable risk.”

But are those risks acceptable? I leave that to the experts. Millions of parts,” NASA’s chief, Nelson, told the AP. “This is an extremely complicated machine and system. Engineers consider the likelihood of that happening low and have accepted these slight additional risks. If any foam pieces break off at liftoff, they could strike the strap-on boosters and damage them.

The engine-temperature situation adds to the flight’s risk, as does another problem that cropped up Monday: cracks in the foam insulation of the rocket. More fuel leaks cropped up Monday technicians found some loose connections and tightened them. NASA could not perform that kind of engine test during dress rehearsals earlier this year because of leaking fuel. NASA is rolling the Artemis I Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion capsule back to the Vehicle Assembly Building tonight, as Florida braces for Hurricane Ian that will be the worst to hit in. Even if that suspect sensor indicates the one engine is too warm, other sensors can be relied on to ensure everything is working correctly and to halt the countdown if there’s a problem, Honeycutt told reporters. Once fueling begins Saturday morning, the launch team will perform another engine test - this time earlier in the countdown. The NASA moon rocket stands ready less than 24 hours before it was scheduled to launch on Pad 39B for the Artemis 1 mission to orbit the moon at the Kennedy Space Center, August 28, 2022, in Cape Canaveral, Fla.

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