Dr. Rick Gilbrech, Director at NASA’s Stennis Space Center says on Aug. 29, over 100,000 visitors are expected to descend on Florida’s Space Coast to watch the maiden launch of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket carrying the Orion spacecraft on the Artemis I mission.
The flight is the first in a series of increasingly complex missions, providing a foundation for human deep space exploration and demonstrating NASA’s commitment and capability to extending human presence to the Moon and eventually Mars.
NASA’s Stennis Space Center helped make the moment possible.
Each one of the four RS-25 engines that will help launch Artemis I was fired and proven flightworthy on the Fred Haise Test Stand at Stennis.
The center also tested the engines in unison during the full-duration, 500-second Green Run test of the Artemis I SLS core stage.
For Green Run, Stennis installed the 212-foot-tall core stage on the historic B-2 Test Stand and conducted a series of tests of its integrated systems. The Green Run campaign culminated with a hot fire of the stage and its four RS-25 engines – just as during an actual launch – in March 2021. It represented the most powerful test conducted at Stennis in more than 50 years and demonstrated to all that SLS and Artemis I were ready to fly.
To watch the Artemis I launch, visit: Artemis I Launch to the Moon (Official NASA Broadcast) on YouTube.
For information about NASA Stennis Space Center, visit: www.nasa.gov/centers/stennis/.
