The final testing of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida has been done by engineers and technicians. The rocket stack made a number of trips to the launchpad in March and June for the wet dress rehearsal, a test that simulates every step of launch without liftoff.
The team at Artemis is targeting its first two-hour launch window at 8: 33 a.m. The huge 322 foot-tall 98 meter-tall stack embarked on a slow 4 mile ride aboard one of the Apollo-era giant NASA crawlers from the assembly building to the launchpad - just like the shuttle missions and Apollo Saturn V rockets once did.
The 6.6 million-pound 3 million-kilogram crawler carried the towering rocket stack and its mobile launcher at a top speed of 1 mile per hour 1.6 kilometers per hour. The rocket stack arrived at the launchpad at 7: 30 a.m. After a nearly 10 hour journey, the ET Wednesday morning came to an end. The iconic crawler is one of two that have operated at Kennedy Space Center for more than 50 years. The massive transporters were first put to use in 1965 and can carry 18 million pounds 8.2 million kilograms or the weight of more than 20 fully loaded 777 airplanes, according to NASA. The crawlers are so wide that a professional baseball diamond could sit on top of each one. Now that the rocket stack has arrived, engineers and technicians will prepare the rocket's systems for launch. The uncrewed Artemis I will launch a mission that goes beyond the moon and returns to Earth. Once it launches, the spacecraft will reach a distant retrograde orbit around the moon, traveling 1.3 million miles 2.1 million kilometers over the course of 42 days. Orion's return will be hotter and faster than any spacecraft has ever experienced on its way back to Earth. The Orion spacecraft will travel farther than any spacecraft built for humans ever flown, reaching 40,000 miles 64,000 kilometers from the far side of the moon, according to NASA. Orion will carry 120 pounds 54.4 kilograms of mementos, including toys, Apollo 11 items and three mannequins, on board Artemis I. There will be no humans on board, but Snoopy, mannequins and Apollo 11 items will swing by the moon. A suited mannequin that can collect data on what future human crews might experience on a lunar trip will be Commander Moonikin Campos, who will be sitting in the commander's seat of Orion. The mannequin will wear the new Orion Crew Survival System suit designed for astronauts to wear during launch and reentry. The suit has two radiation sensors. Two phantoms named Zohar and Helga will ride in other Orion seats. These mannequin torsos are made of materials that mimic the soft tissue, organs and bones of a woman. The two torsos have more than 5,600 sensors and 34 radiation detectors to measure how much radiation exposure occurs during the spaceflight. This mission will kick off NASA's Artemis program which aims to return humans to the moon and land the first woman and first person of color on the lunar surface by 2025 and eventually make way for human exploration of Mars. Artemis I will carry a number of science experiments, some of which will be installed once the rocket and spacecraft arrive at the launchpad.