What will happen during the Artemis II launch? Step-by-step guide
We're hours away from NASA's most powerful rocket ever blasting off again from Florida's Atlantic Coast on a mission to send four astronauts around the moon .
The towering Space Launch System rocket, designed specifically for the U.S. space agency's Artemis lunar program, has been vertical for about two weeks on the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center awaiting liftoff. Now, ground teams in Cape Canaveral have begun the long process of fueling the massive rocket as NASA prepares for the launch of a mission known as Artemis II .
The SLS rocket has launched just one other time, in 2022 on Artemis I, NASA's first mission under its multibillion-dollar campaign to return humans to the surface of the moon . Artemis II, though, will be the first test of the rocket during a human spaceflight.
Planning to watch the trailblazing mission get off the ground?
Here's what to expect during the launch , as well as what comes within the crucial few hours after liftoff as the Artemis II crew prepares for a 10-day journey around the moon .
What is Artemis II? What to know about NASA's Artemis II launch and its 10-day moon journey
Artemis II launch window, time, date in Florida
NASA is working toward a Wednesday, April 1, launch of its Artemis II moon mission from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The two-hour launch window opens at 6:24 p.m. ET.
The weather conditions have an 80% chance of being favorable for a launch, according to NASA . But if bad weather or any other factors – such as an unforeseen issue with the spacecraft – scuttle liftoff, NASA has other backup dates available April 2-6, as well as April 30.
Where is Artemis II launching? What to know about Kennedy Space Center
All of NASA's Artemis missions will get off the ground from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, located along Florida's Atlantic coast.
At the Kennedy Space Center, perhaps no launch site is more iconic than Launch Complex 39A , where the majority of NASA's Apollo moon missions got off the ground – including the groundbreaking Apollo 11 moon landing.
But because SpaceX has construction underway at 39A ahead of a highly anticipated Florida debut of Starship , the launch pad has been closed for weeks. That means the Artemis II mission will instead lift off a little further north from the less-prolific Launch Complex 39B – the site of one Saturn V launch on the Apollo 10 mission in 1969.
Artemis II launch countdown
What is the Artemis rocket? What to know about Space Launch System
The four astronauts selected for the Artemis II mission will be aboard NASA's Orion crew capsule, which will hitch a ride to orbit atop the agency's towering Space Launch System rocket . The 322-foot rocket, often referred to simply as the SLS , is the most powerful rocket NASA has ever launched.
Lifting off atop a staggering 8.8 million pounds of thrust – more than 15% more power than NASA's iconic Saturn V rocket of the Apollo era – the SLS will provide the initial burst of power to send the Orion capsule on its way.
What will happen when the Artemis rocket launches? What to expect
NASA will have to go through a series of complex steps in the first few hours after the launch to set the stage of the Artemis II crew to begin the 10-day journey around the moon in the Orion capsule.
Here's a step-by-step look at what to expect if you're watching the launch live:
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Within less than a minute of liftoff, the SLS rocket is expected to reach supersonic speeds, faster than the speed of sound.
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As the rocket leaves Earth's atmosphere, its two solid rocket boosters mounted to the side will be discarded after emptied of fuel, expected to be about two minutes into the launch. Then, the panels that protect the Orion service module that fuels and propels the vehicle in space will similarly be jettisoned.
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About eight minutes after launch, the SLS's 212-foot core stage, where the bulk of super-cooled liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen fuel is stored to power four engines, will reach space, triggering the engines to shut down. The core stage will then separate from the rocket's upper stage and the Orion capsule.
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Orion's solar array will deploy about 20 minutes after liftoff, allowing it to generate power from the sun.
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Within about 50 minutes, Orion will reach the highest point of its early sub-orbital trajectory, known as apogee. That milestone is followed by the interim cryogenic propulsion stage – also known as the upper stage that provides the initial capability to propel Orion out of Earth’s orbit – firing its engine to raise what's known as its perigee, or the lowest point of its orbit, to about 100 miles high.
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Now in a stable low-Earth orbit, the upper stage will fire its engine again about an hour later to continue raising Orion to a higher orbit, about 44,000 miles high.
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Once the upper stage has done it's job, it will separate from Orion more than three hours into the spaceflight.
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The crew on Orion will then conduct what's known as a proximity test, flying toward and around the upper stage to verify they can safely pilot the vehicle manually. The upper stage will then reenter the Earth’s atmosphere and burn up over the Pacific Ocean.
NASA's Artemis moon mission to precede 2028 landing
Under its Artemis campaign, NASA is aiming to return astronauts to the surface of the moon for the first time since the Apollo missions came to an end in 1972.
NASA is looking to establish a permanent foothold on the lunar south pole, using a series of crewed and uncrewed missions in the years ahead to build a moon base . From there, the first humans could be venturing to Mars .
As a 10-day moon-circling mission, Artemis II primarily serves as a test flight, with the four-person crew testing systems and hardware ahead of a future landing.
In 2027, another crew of astronauts is due to ride Orion to Earth orbit to test docking capabilities with one or both of the commercial lunar landers being developed by Elon Musk 's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin . A lunar landing would then come in 2028 under Artemis IV .
Meet the astronauts on Artemis II
The four astronauts selected for the Artemis II moon mission arrived Friday, March 27 in Florida while in standard preflight quarantine to avoid exposure to illness.
The crew includes NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, who commands the mission; pilot Victor Glover, who will become the firs Black man to venture near the moon; and mission specialist Christina Koch, who will become the first woman on a NASA moon mission. The second mission specialist Jeremy Hansen, an astronaut from the Canadian Space Agency, is due to become the first Canadian to go toward the moon.
Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@usatodayco.com
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Where is Artemis II launching? What to expect during Florida liftoff
