NASA rocket arrives at launch pad

The Artemis I rocket arrived at its launch pad Wednesday morning after a 4-mile journey from its hangar that took more than 10 hours. This is the rocket’s third trip to the launch pad—it made one trip in April before it had to be ushered back to the hangar for repairs to a fuel leak, and then another in June. NASA aims to launch the rocket August 29, in what should be the first moonshot flight in the Artemis program.

Where would the rocket go? The rocket would fly unmanned, but with three dummies in the cockpit that are equipped with sensors to monitor radiation and vibration. The rocket would fly around the moon for six weeks in a distant orbit before it would return to earth and land in the Pacific ocean. The soonest a manned lunar landing could take place would be 2025.

Dig deeper: Listen to Bonnie Pritchett’s piece on The World and Everything in It podcast about how war in Ukraine threatens peace on the International Space Station.