Artemis to the Moon! Soon!

 America is Returning to the Moon

February may mark the moment when American astronauts return to the Moon, joined for the first time with a Canadian astronaut.

On January 17, the Artemis-II rocket was transported to the launchpad for testing and the launch. The journey from the Vehicle Assembly Building 4.2 miles to the pad took 12 hours.

If all checks out, and the weather cooperates, the giant rocket will carry Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, and Mission Specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen. Hansen is the Canadian.

This will be a ten-day expedition to circle the Moon and return. The primary purpose is to test the spacecraft for the eventual landing on the Moon. It is very similar to the Christmas Eve 1968 lunar flyby of Apollo 8.

Because it will be a wider orbit than on Apollo, the crew will be the furthest from earth ever.

A 'wet dress rehearsal' will take place on February 2 that will perform a complete countdown from filling the giant tanks with liquid hydrogen and oxygen, and then follow all countdown steps towards a launch, but halting just before the engines fire. They will repeat that test a couple times.

This will be the most comprehensive test of all possible systems on the spacecraft, and analysis of the resulting data will determine if any issues must be fixed before launching. That will determine whether Artemis will fly this or next month. 

In February, the possible launch dates would be on Feb 8, 10 and 11. Delays from weather and problems with the million systems aboard could delay the launch to March or later, as happened with the un-crewed Artemis I in 2022. The March launch windows are 6,7,8,9 and 11. And should the launch be postponed into April, those dates would be the first, followed by April 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 30.

Stay tuned for updates on the launch date.