Space - Artemis, NASAs nye mega rocket, skytes opp i morgen - AP

 

EXPLAINER: NASA tests new moon rocket, 50 years after Apollo

By MARCIA DUNNAugust 25, 2022

 

This combination of photos shows the Saturn V rocket with Apollo 12's spacecraft aboard on the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center in 1969, left. At right is NASA's new moon rocket for the Artemis program with the Orion spacecraft on top at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on March 18, 2022. Liftoff for the first Artemis mission is set for Monday, Aug. 29, 2022. (AP Photo)

 

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Years late and billions over budget, NASA’s new moon rocket makes its debut next week in a high-stakes test flight before astronauts get on top.

The 322-foot (98-meter) rocket will attempt to send an empty crew capsule into a far-flung lunar orbit, 50 years after NASA’s famed Apollo moonshots.

If all goes well, astronauts could strap in as soon as 2024 for a lap around the moon, with NASA aiming to land two people on the lunar surface by the end of 2025.

Liftoff is set for Monday morning from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.

The six-week test flight is risky and could be cut short if something fails, NASA officials warn.

“We’re going to stress it and test it. We’re going make it do things that we would never do with a crew on it in order to try to make it as safe as possible,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

The retired founder of George Washington University’s space policy institute said a lot is riding on this trial run. Spiraling costs and long gaps between missions will make for a tough comeback if things go south, he noted.