NASA announces Artemis 1 moon rocket launch date
The test flight will launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida
NASA said Wednesday that it would attempt the launch of its Space Launch System (SLS) rocket as soon as Aug. 29.
There are also two launch dates in early September – on the second and the fifth – before the agency would need to wait until the next launch window.
This all comes after repair work following June's leaky wet dress rehearsal.
"So, we're here today to say: ‘Hey, we think we’re on a good path to get to attempts on those dates,’" Jim Free, the associate administrator of exploration systems at NASA, said. "Of course, it's the first time we're trying to launch this vehicle."
NASA SATELLITE HEADS FOR THE MOON AFTER BREAKING FROM ORBIT AROUND EARTH
A full moon, known as the "Strawberry Moon" is shown with NASA’s next-generation moon rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS) Artemis 1, at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S. June 15, 2022. (Reuters/Joe Skipper / Reuters)
NASA will announce an "agency commitment" about one week before launch.
The 30-story moon rocket and its Orion spacecraft are currently in the hangar at Kennedy Space Center.
Cliff Lanham, the senior vehicle operations manager of NASA's exploration ground systems program, noted NASA's Artemis 1 lunar mission must pass strenuous operation maintenance tests "to say that the vehicle is ready."
NASA’s next-generation moon rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS) Artemis 1, is shown at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S. June 27, 2022. (Reuters/Joe Skipper / Reuters)
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Officials assured reporters that testing is almost complete, but warned that launch dates could slip depending on weather and other factors.
The SLS is supposed to return to the launch pad on Aug. 18.
NASA's next-generation moon rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with its Orion crew capsule perched on top, stands on launch complex 39B in preparation for the Artemis 1 mission, in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S. April 21, 2022. (Reuters/Steve Nesius / Reuters)
While this test flight around the moon is uncrewed, astronauts could climb aboard as soon as 2023.
The teleconference on Artemis 1 occurred on the 53rd anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.
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NASA hopes to return people there within the next few years.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.