NASA has started to roll out Artemis, and there is quite the buzz on social media. I normally write about weather and climate topics, but I spent twelve years of my career as a NASA scientist. Being NASA-attentive, I feel qualified to provide you with a little “101” on Artemis and why there is such excitement about the rollout this weekend.
At times over the past year, the NASA ecosystem has endured blow after blow. Proposed cuts placed NASA and its industry partners in a precarious position as decades of science, engineering, and technical expertise left key centers around the nation. Even NASA largest library, a place I frequented during my tenure there, is closing. It contained historic and important documents, books, and resources.
The past few months have lifted NASA to new heights. There has been a surge of good news for the space agency and by default, the nation. Jared Isaacman was recently confirmed as the NASA Administrator. This week Congress passed a spending bill with an allocation of $24.4 billion to NASA for fiscal year 2026. That is significantly more than the President’s budget request. That’s great news for science, American space competitiveness and halting a dangerous purge of highly-skilled expertise.
That news makes the rollout of Artemis even more exciting. According to NASA’s press release, “The Artemis II Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft that will carry four astronauts around the Moon is rolling to Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.” It will take the system about 12 hours to make the four-mile journey, which started at 7:04 a.m. EST on Saturday, January 17.
According to NASA, “Once at the launch pad, engineers in the coming days will prepare SLS and Orion for a wet dress rehearsal test that includes loading all the propellants into the rocket.” Once flight readiness is established, NASA went on to say, “The earliest launch window for the approximately 10-day mission around the Moon opens on Friday, February 6.” The Artemis II Crew consists of Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Christina Koch and Canadian Space AgencyMission Specialist Jeremy Hansen. You can watch the massive NASA crawler-transporter slowly move the 11-million pound Artemis II to the pad on NASA’s YouTube channel.
NASA refers to the Moon as a 4.5-billion-year-old time capsule. The Artemis program will help lead the nation back to vigorous Moon exploration and staging. NASA said, “We are exploring the Moon for scientific discovery, technology advancement, and to learn how to live and work on another world as we prepare for human missions to Mars.”
Artemis I was a 2022 uncrewed mission It successfully placedOrion into orbit around the Moon. Artemis II will allow the crew to perform extensive testing in orbit. A series of missions through Artemis X are planned. Artemis III will be the first Moon landing since a 1972 Apollo-era mission.
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