NASA has announced a new target date for the highly anticipated Artemis II manned mission to the Moon: April 1.
It may be April Fools’ Day, but the space agency is dead serious about finally getting its massive SLS (Space Launch System) rocket, Orion spacecraft and four astronauts into the air in what will be the first manned flight to the moon since the last Apollo mission in 1972.
The upcoming mission will take the crew around the moon rather than landing on its surface. The first moon landing of the Artemis era is currently scheduled for 2028.
NASA announced the new target launch date at a press conference on Thursday. It said the launch team had “requested” the Artemis II flight readiness check to proceed with the launch.
If all goes well, the team will launch the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft to Launch Site 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday, March 19. The launch attempt is scheduled for the beginning of the following month on April 1st at 6:20 p.m. ET.
NASA had hoped to launch Artemis II in February but was forced to abandon the process after technical problems with the SLS rocket came to light during a wet dress rehearsal, a key test that is essentially a full launch simulation apart from the actual launch.
In particular, NASA does not plan to conduct another dress rehearsal before launch. NASA’s Shawn Quinn told NASASpaceflight that after working on the rocket over the past few days, it has already completed the necessary checks and tests.
If all goes well, the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft carrying astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen will lift off from the launch pad next month.
If the two-hour launch window on April 1 does not work for technical reasons or bad weather, there will be additional launch opportunities on each of the following five days and another on April 30, NASA said.
After launch, the Orion spacecraft will enter Earth orbit for systems checks before performing an ignition to place it on a trajectory that orbits the moon. It will then use the gravity of the Earth and the Moon to return Orion for a splash of water in the Pacific Ocean about ten days after launch.
