Artemis 1 launch: Countdown begins as NASA’s moon rocket readies for liftoff; Where to watch this event?

Cape Canaveral, Aug 29: NASA will launch the Artemis I mission to the moon almost 50 years after the last Apollo mission that took humanity to the Moon. The mission is scheduled to launch during a launch window that starts at 6.03 pm IST on August 29.

NASA began fuelling its new moon rocket early Monday for liftoff on a test flight to put a crew capsule into lunar orbit. Thunderstorms delayed the fuelling operation by an hour. The threat of lightning diminished enough to allow the launch team to proceed with loading the rocket's tanks. But it was uncertain how much the stalled work might shorten the two-hour launch window. No one was inside the Orion capsule atop the 322-foot (98-meter) rocket at Kennedy Space Center. Instead, three test dummies were strapped in for the lunar-orbiting mission, expected to last six weeks.

It's the most powerful rocket ever built by NASA, out-muscling the Saturn V that carried astronauts to the moon a half-century ago. Thousands of people jammed the coast to see the Space Launch System, or SLS, rocket soar.

Rain pelted the launch site as the launch team finally began loading more than 1 million gallons of super-cold fuel into the rocket. Forecasters remained optimistic the sky would clear by launch time later in the morning; the rocket is banned from flying through rain.

Besides the weather, launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson and her team were dealing with a communication issue involving the Orion capsule.

Engineers scrambled to understand an 11-minute delay in the communication lines between Launch Control and Orion that cropped up late Sunday. Although the problem had cleared by Monday morning, NASA needed to know why it occurred before committing to launch.

The launch team was also wary of any lingering fuel leaks. A pair of countdown tests earlier this year uncovered not only leaks but other technical trouble. NASA officials said they could not be sure about the repairs until the final phase of the countdown.

This first flight of NASA's 21st-century moon-exploration program, named Artemis after Apollo's mythological twin sister, is years overdue. Repeated delays have led to billions in budget overruns; this demo alone costs USD 4.1 billion.

Assuming the test goes well, astronauts would climb aboard for the second flight and fly around the moon and back as soon as 2024. A two-person lunar landing could follow by the end of 2025. NASA is targeting the moon's south pole.

During Apollo, 12 astronauts landed on the moon from 1969 through 1972, with stays of no more than a few days. NASA is looking to establish a lunar base during Artemis, with astronauts rotating in and out for weeks at a time. The next step would be Mars, possibly in the late 2030s or early 2040s.

ARTEMIS-1 launch full schedule

NASA officials said on Sunday that all systems appeared "go" for liftoff, and weather forecasts called for an 80% chance of favorable conditions at the top of Monday's two-hour launch window, starting at 8:33 a.m. EDT (6 pm on Monday), diminishing to 60% toward the end of that period.

If the countdown clock is halted for any reason, NASA has set September 2 and September 5 as potential backup launch dates.

Where to watch Artemis-1 launch to the moon?

You can track all the development related to the maiden launch of NASA's Artemis project on the official website of the US space agency or its social media handles. Several online options like NASA TV, NASA official YouTube channel are available for space fans to watch the Artemis 1 launch live event. The live coverage will begin at 6:33 PM (IST) One can watch on any of the following feeds:

• NASA's YouTube channel
• The NASA app
• NASA's Website
• The KSC YouTube channel

What's the goal of the Artemis project?

The mission is a first step toward Artemis 3, which is going to result in the first human missions to the Moon in the 21st century and the first since 1972.

Artemis 1 is an uncrewed test flight.

Its primary goal is to thoroughly test the integrated systems before crewed missions by operating the spacecraft in a deep space environment, testing Orion's heat shield, and recovering the crew module after reentry, descent, and splashdown.

Artemis I will be the first in a series of increasingly complex missions to build a long-term human presence at the Moon for decades to come. The primary goals for Artemis I are to demonstrate Orion's systems in a spaceflight environment and ensure a safe re-entry, descent, splashdown, and recovery prior to the first flight with crew on Artemis II.