Contact Us

NASA returning to the Moon with mega rocket launch

"Our time is coming. And we hope that that is on Wednesday," said Mike Sarafin, the manager of the much-delayed Artemis 1 mission, at NASA headquarters. The weather promises to be favorable, with an 80 percent chance of launch during a two hour window that begins at 1:04 am local time (0604 GMT). As expected, Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, NASA's first female launch director, gave her go-ahead on Tuesday afternoon to begin fueling operations.

  • 13
  • 15
Rather than landing on the Moon, it will assume a distant orbit, venturing 40,000 miles (64,000 kilometers) beyond the far side -- further than any other habitable spacecraft so far. Finally, Orion will embark on the return leg of its journey. When passing through the atmosphere, the capsule's heat shield will need to withstand a temperature half as hot as the Sun's surface.