Excitement builds as NASA’s moon rocket readies for liftoff
Tens of thousands of spectators gather in Cape Canaveral for launch of NASA’s Artemis mission to return humans to the moon.
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NASA’s most powerful rocket yet is set to blast off on its debut test flight, kicking off the United States space agency’s mission to take humans back to the moon and eventually to Mars.
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Fifty years after the last Apollo mission, the Artemis mission will get underway with the blast off of the unmanned Space Launch System (SLS) rocket at 8:33am (12:33 GMT) from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday.
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Tens of thousands of people, including US Vice President Kamala Harris, are expected to watch the launch, with hotels around Cape Canaveral booked out for the event.
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“This mission goes with a lot of hopes and dreams of a lot of people. And we now are the Artemis generation,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said on Saturday.
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The goal of the six-week test flight, named Artemis 1, is to test the SLS and the Orion crew capsule that sits atop the rocket. The capsule will orbit the moon to see if the vessel is safe for people in the near future.
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In lieu of astronauts, three test dummies are strapped into the capsule to measure vibration, acceleration and radiation, one of the biggest hazards to humans in deep space.
The capsule alone has more than 1,000 sensors.
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The SLS-Orion combo, standing 98 metres (322 feet) tall, form the centrepiece of the US space agency’s successor to the Apollo moon programme of the 1960s and 1970s. Billed as the most powerful, complex rocket in the world, the SLS represents the biggest new vertical launch system NASA has built since the Saturn V flown for Apollo.
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The next mission, Artemis 2, will take astronauts into orbit around the Moon without landing on its surface. If the first two Artemis missions succeed, NASA is aiming to land astronauts back on the moon, including the first woman to set foot on the lunar surface, as early as 2025, though many experts believe that timeframe is likely to slip by a few years.
* The last humans to walk on the moon were the two-man descent team of Apollo 17 in 1972, following in the footsteps of 10 other astronauts during five earlier missions beginning with Apollo 11 in 1969.
The Artemis programme seeks to eventually establish a long-term lunar base as a stepping stone to even more ambitious astronaut voyages to Mars, a goal that NASA officials have said will probably take until at least the late 2030s to achieve.
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Jack Burns, an astrophysicist at the University of Colorado in Boulder, said the Artemis missions will be utilising new technology not available during the Apollo mission.
“Going forward to the moon is the right way to describe it, because it’s not your grandfather’s Apollo programme,” “This is all new technology, new motivation, new opportunity. Bringing all that technology to the moon is going to be exciting.”
NASA said there is an 80 percent chance of acceptable weather for a liftoff on time at the beginning of a launch window lasting two hours.
“Everything to date looks good from a vehicle perspective,” said Jeff Spaulding, senior NASA test director. “We are excited, the vehicle is ready, it looks great.”
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Although lightning rods at the launch site were struck during a storm on Saturday, Spaulding said he has not “seen anything on the ground systems that give us any concerns”.
NASA said there was no damage to the spacecraft or launch facilities.
If the countdown clock is halted for any reason, NASA has set September 2 and September 5 as potential backup launch dates.
Manuel Rapalo said the excitement from spectators at Cape Canaveral was palpable.
“Years overdue, and billions over budget, the moment is almost here for the launch of Artemis I, with more than 100 000 people expected to attend, all of them collectively crossing their fingers for a successful lift-off,” he said.
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QUIZ QUESTION FROM THE CONTENT IN THIS PAGE
The last humans to walk on the moon were the two-man descent team of Apollo 17 in 1972, following in the ________________________ during five earlier missions beginning with Apollo 11 in 1969. ?
A. footsteps of 10 other astronauts
B. footsteps of 15 other astronauts
C. footsteps of 18 other astronauts
D. footsteps of 7 other astronauts
Go through the content above and drop your answer in the forum below following the ‘Dos’ and ‘Dont’s’ in the
SGT QUIZ GIVE AWAY
as stated above.
Remember, the SGT QUIZ GIVE AWAY is all about the participant with the highest numbers of the correct answers and the first to answer all questions correctly in the forum within 30 days will smile away with 5k plus 1.500 MB.
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Tens of thousands of spectators gather in Cape Canaveral for launch of NASA’s Artemis mission to return humans to the moon.
SGT QUIZ GIVE AWAY
30 days countdown for the second draw to hold is on (September 27/9/2022). Participate in the quiz to stand a chance of wining (N5,000 plus 1.500MB)Note:
Only participants with @ least (300 quiz answers) will be qualified for the draw
‘Dos’ and ‘Dont’s’ in the
SGT QUIZ GIVE AWAY
as you participate
.Don't answer questions twice and no editing answered questions in the forum, answer once per question in the forum
.Drop your answer in the right order just as the uptions are stated
.Don't answer questions out of the content where questions are pulled out from, every questions in the quiz is from the content on each post
.To stand a chance to win, answer @ least 10 questions daily, the more questions you answer daily, the better your chance of wining
QUIZ QUESTION FROM THE CONTENT IN THIS PAGE
The last humans to walk on the moon were the two-man descent team of Apollo 17 in 1972, following in the ________________________ during five earlier missions beginning with Apollo 11 in 1969. ?
A. footsteps of 10 other astronauts
B. footsteps of 15 other astronauts
C. footsteps of 18 other astronauts
D. footsteps of 7 other astronauts
Go through the content above and drop your answer in the forum below following the ‘Dos’ and ‘Dont’s’ in the
SGT QUIZ GIVE AWAY
as stated above.
Remember, the SGT QUIZ GIVE AWAY is all about the participant with the highest numbers of the correct answers and the first to answer all questions correctly in the forum within 30 days will smile away with 5k plus 1.500 MB.