The launch of Artemis I will be a symphony of high-powered machinery.

The countdown is well underway to launch NASA’s moon-bound Artemis I mission. NASA is preparing to launch SLS to orbit as soon as Monday, August 29. Once there, the Orion spacecraft hitching a ride atop SLS will detach to make its way towards the moon.

The mission will kickstart NASA’s Artemis launches, which will send humans back to the moon for the first time since 1972, and also pave the way for crewed missions to Mars.

A lot of hard work has gone towards the August 29 launch, culminating in the launch of SLS. The powerhouse rocket’s many components were built by many organizations, each serving a vital purpose. Here is a visualization of the major components of SLS. Below we provide more information on each separate part.

Watch live as our mega Moon rocket launches an uncrewed Orion spacecraft on a six-week mission around the Moon and back to Earth. During #Artemis I, Orion will lift off aboard the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, and travel 280,000 miles (450,000 km) from Earth and 40,000 miles (64,000 km) beyond the far side of the Moon, carrying science and technology payloads to expand our understanding of lunar science, technology developments, and deep space radiation.

Liftoff from Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida is currently targeted for 8:33 a.m. EDT (12:33 UTC) Monday, Aug. 29, at the start of a two-hour launch window.

Through Artemis missions, NASA will land the first woman and the first person of color on the Moon, paving the way for a long-term lunar presence and serving as a steppingstone to send astronauts to Mars. We are going.

More: www.nasa.gov/artemis

Blue Origin’s announcement of next weeks’ New Sheppard 23 sub-orbital flight, which will feature a NASA-funded Tipping Point hydrogen fuel cell experiment designed and manufactured by Infinity Fuel Cell and Hydrogen, Inc. It will be the first fuel cell to fly into space since the space shuttle was retired ten years ago this summer, and the first ever to fly into space on a commercial flight.

---

On August 31, New Shepard’s 23rd mission, a dedicated payloads flight, will fly 36 payloads from academia, research institutions, and students across the globe. The launch window opens at 8:30 AM CDT / 13:30 UTC from Launch Site One in West Texas.

The journey of half a million miles – the first flight of the Artemis Generation – is about to begin. The uncrewed Artemis I mission will jump-start humanity’s return to the Moon with the thunderous liftoff of NASA’s powerful new Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft. This critical flight test will send Orion farther than any human-rated spacecraft has ever flown, putting new systems and processes to the test and lighting the way for the crew missions to come. Artemis I is ready for departure – and, together with our partners around the world, we are ready to return to the Moon, with our sights on Mars and beyond.

Producer: lisa allen, barbara zelon, alysia lee. writer & director: paul wizikowski

“If we could solve the problems of poverty by not pushing the button to launch men to the Moon tomorrow, then we would not push that button.”

---

NASA is prepping to send humans back to the Moon as soon as 2026. But Americans remain deeply divided on whether the agency would be better using its money on other endeavors.

NASA is about to perform the first-ever launch of its next-generation rocket and spacecraft in a highly anticipated lunar mission, and you can watch the entire event online.

The Artemis I mission, which is scheduled to launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday, August 29, will usher in a new era of space exploration as NASA eyes lengthy crewed stays on the moon and the first astronaut voyage to Mars.

Monday’s launch involves the 98-meter-tall Space Launch System (SLS), the most powerful rocket NASA has ever built, and the Orion spacecraft, the space agency’s next-generation crew capsule.