NASA has begun a two-day practice countdown to refuel a new rocket that will send humans to the moon for the first time since 1972.
Returning humans to the moon is a key test that will determine when the four astronauts will take off on a lunar mission.
Commander Reed Wiseman and his crew, already in quarantine to avoid germs, will oversee a dress rehearsal from their Houston base before heading to Kennedy Space Center once the rocket is cleared to fly.
Based on the success of the Apollo program
NASA sent 24 people to the moon during the Apollo program from 1968 to 1972, and 12 of them walked on the moon.
Wiseman commented, “They’re very enthusiastic and they want us to go back to the moon. They just want to see humanity as far away from Earth as possible and discover the unknown.”
What makes this launch different from other moon exploration missions?
Weighing 11 million pounds, the Space Launch System rocket and the Orion crew capsule on top of it traveled aboard a giant transport plane used in the days of Apollo and the Shuttle.
The first and only SLS launch, sending an empty Orion capsule into lunar orbit, took place in November 2022.
On the eve of the rocket’s launch, NASA’s John Honeycutt said, “This time it will feel very different because we will be orbiting the moon with a crew on board.”
Will we be able to land a man on the moon by the end of this month?
The 98-meter Space Launch System rocket moved to the launch pad two weeks ago. If today’s refueling test goes well, NASA could attempt a launch within a week.
The team will fill the rocket’s tanks with more than 700,000 gallons of ultra-cold fuel and shut it down 30 minutes before the engines ignite.
The rocket could take humans to the moon by February 8 at the earliest, as the refueling demonstration and launch were delayed by two days due to the severe cold snap.
U.S. and Canadian astronauts will fly around the moon at breakneck speeds in the Orion capsule atop a rocket, then fly straight back without stopping until they splash down in the Pacific Ocean. This means the mission will last approximately 10 days.
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