The launch of Artemis II is coming soon at Kennedy Space Center, and it is going to be unlike anything most people have seen in their lifetimes. The last time a crewed moon rocket launched from this pad at Kennedy was Apollo 17 in December 1972, and the Space Launch System is even more powerful than the Saturn V that carried those astronauts to the Moon. The plumes will be blinding, the sound will rattle your chest and your car windows, and the moment will be etched in your memory forever. If you are a photographer, you have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to document history.
NASA’s Space Launch System rocket carrying the Orion spacecraft launches on the Artemis I flight test, Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022, from Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s Artemis I mission is the first integrated flight test of the agency’s deep space exploration systems: the Orion spacecraft, Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, and ground systems. SLS and Orion launched at 1:47am ET from Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center. NASA/Bill Ingalls
The Artemis II mission will mark humanity’s return to lunar exploration with a crewed spacecraft for the first time since Apollo 17 in December 1972. NASA’s Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft will carry astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen on an approximately 10-day journey around the Moon and back to Earth.
The launch is currently slated for April 1st and 6:47pm EDT, with a two hour window on that day. If weather or technical reasons necessitate postponement on April 1, April 2 is available.
Launch will occur from Launch Complex 39B at Kennedy Space Center—the same historic pad complex that sent Apollo astronauts to the Moon aboard Apollo 10. After that, LC-39B was reconfigured for the Space Shuttle program, serving as the launch site for 53 missions. At the end of the Shuttle era, the pad was designated for Project Artemis.
Starlink 6-92 launching from LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center today. Credit: SpaceX
“Well…it’s Monday…again, and SpaceX launched 29 Starlink satellites to Low-Earth Orbit on another routine Falcon 9 flight this afternoon.” You can almost hear Bill Murray saying that in the role of newsman Phil Connors in the movie “Groundhog Day.” SpaceX launches that often on the Space Coast, and today, the company launched another Starlink mission, and Booster B0167 successfully completed its 32nd flight.
Bill Murray in “Groundhog Day”
Liftoff occurred at 5:26 p.m. EST (2226 UTC) from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center, and into mostly leaden, overcast skies that were just starting to clear after a cold front passed through the Space Coast region in the past couple of days.
The flight was nominal, and at T+8:23s Booster B1067 touched down aboard ASDS ‘Just Read The Instructions’, stationed in the Atlantic east of The Bahamas. Fifteen seconds later, the second stage of Falcon 9 reached SECO, or Second Stage Engine Cut-Off, and was in its initial orbit.
The Clubhouse Leader With 32 Flights
Booster B1067.32 remains the all-time leader for SpaceX boosters, having earned its soot on the CRS-22, Crew-3, Turksat 5B, Crew-4, CRS-25, Eutelsat HOTBIRD 13G, SES O3B mPOWER-A, PSN SATRIA, Telkomsat Merah Putih 2, Galileo L13, Koreasat-6A, and now 21 Starlink missions.
The Pegasus Barge carrying the Artemis-2 core stage arriving in Port Canaveral this afternoon. Photo: Richard Gallagher, Florida Media Now
Business is picking up for the Artemis teams at Kennedy Space Center — the core stage for Artemis 2 has arrived in Port Canaveral, after it traveled from its manufacturing site in Mississippi.
The barge is expected to berth overnight in the Port and then travel to Kennedy Space Center tomorrow, where the 212-foot-tall stage will be offloaded. After that, processing will begin in earnest for the assembly of the second Artemis rocket, which this time will carry four astronauts on board for a circumlunar mission.
As the main stage of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket for Artemis 2, it was built by The Boeing Company in  NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility. Measuring some 65 m (212 ft) tall and 8.4 m (27.6 ft) in diameter, the core stage will contain approximately 987 t (2,177,000 lb) of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen cryogenic propellants when it stands ready for launch.
Artemis 1. The core stage for Artemis 2 is nearly identical and is the orange center stage of the rocket. Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville
The core stage is powered by four Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-25 engines, which generate approximately 7.44 MN (1,670,000 lbf) of thrust — about 25% of the Space Launch System’s thrust at liftoff. Its duty cycle is approximately 500 seconds, and it will propel the rocket stack alone for the last 375 seconds of flight after two solid rocket boosters complete firing and are discarded. The core stage’s target will lift Artemis 2 to an altitude of approximately 162 km (531,380 ft) before separating and reentering the atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean. It is not a reusable component.
Photo: Richard Gallagher, Florida Media NowPhoto: Richard Gallagher, Florida Media NowPhoto: Richard Gallagher, Florida Media NowPhoto: Richard Gallagher, Florida Media NowPhoto: Richard Gallagher, Florida Media Now
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