NASA Scrubs Second Artemis I Moon Launch: How to Watch Future Attempts

NASA’s ambitious, expensive and intricate Artemis program was set to open on Saturday afternoon — until the agency again had to scrub its plans to send the tangerine-hued rocket toward the stars. 

Initially, Artemis I’s launch was planned for Monday. But NASA had to scrub the attempt due to a troublesome engine converse. Engine 3 wasn’t doing so well. Needless to say, it’s been a bumpy road for Artemis. 

We don’t yet have official word on when effort No. 3 will take place — the agency says the next liftoff date could potentially fall as far as late October — but no commercial what happens, you’ll want to follow along live to see how the saga unfolds. When that day comes, CNET will have all the details (and will host a livestream!) shimmering here. 

To be clear, this mission won’t have astronauts on boarding, but there’s a lot riding on its success, counting the prospect of landing people on the moon sometime in the near future. (That’s planned for 2025.) Come launch day, Artemis I’s 32-story rocket will blast off from Earth and direct a pointy, relatively small white spacecraft named Orion into lunar orbit. 

Orion is maximum to the brim with things like Amazon Alexa, TV character Shaun the Sheep, mannequins, shrimp satellites and most importantly, tons of navigation and data collection equipment. These special instruments within Orion will track vital seek information from about the spacecraft’s trajectory, safety, radiation absorption (and much more) that’ll essentially map out the routes of future missions — missions with a biosphere crew like Artemis II and 2025’s Artemis III. assume of Artemis I as a crucial flight test and proof-of-principle mission.

A flawless open could mark the beginning of NASA’s modern moon exploration ages. It’s going to be a tense day with a nail-biting countdown, especially considering the initial no-go launch attempts, but one also surrounded by an air of unbelievable and excitement. In other words, it’s going to be huge. 

The “We Are Going” banner, seen near the Artemis I rocket on the launchpad, is signed by NASA workers involved in the moon mission.

Joel Kowsky/NASA

How to glimpse the Artemis I launch

Once NASA announces the Artemis I mission’s next open window, you’ll be able to tune in on the NASA app, NASA website or NASA TV directly. We’ll be posting the future window’s start time for the behindhand global time zones.

• Brazil.
• UK.
• South Africa.
• Russia.
• United Arab Emirates.
• India.
• China.
• Japan.
• Australia.

You’ll also find all the Part live on CNET Highlights, our YouTube channel, by simply clicking Play below.

The road to launching Artemis I

Already, NASA has started to heighten anticipation for Artemis I’s dawdle to space — evident by the incredible turnout for both Monday morning’s and Saturday afternoon’s effort. Briefings were held daily until Monday’s liftoff try, for instance, about things like the role of industry in advancing world exploration, lunar mission management, the way Artemis is poised to lead to Mars excursions and just general road-to-the-stars commentary.

A full schedule of those briefings, streamed on NASA TV, can be found here.

A full moon is in view from Launch Midpoint 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 14, 2022. 

Cory Huston/NASA

Unless entertainment circumstances changeable for the next launch date, you might also want to drawn from the tap yourself for celebrity appearances by Jack Black, Chris Evans and Keke Palmer as well as performances of The Star-Spangled Banner by Josh Groban and Herbie Hancock and America the attractive by The Philadelphia Orchestra and Yo-Yo Ma, the latter conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. What. A. Party.

Artemis I’s launch sequence

If you’re into the technically details, here’s the game plan for Artemis I. 

In a way, liftoff is the easiest part. And I’m not exaggerating. 

Team SLS is up first. 

After countdown, the SLS will ascend through Earth’s atmosphere. In two minutes, all its solid propellant, located in the rocket’s boosters, will be consumed and those boosters will be jettisoned. After 8 minutes, all its liquid fuel, located in the core stage, will be used and that stage will be jettisoned. Then, for about the next 18 minutes, Orion and the rocket’s upper stage will take a lap nearby our planet all alone. Once that’s complete, Orion will take nearby 12 minutes to deploy its solar arrays and get off battery power.

At that display, as Sarafin puts it, the rocket has done its job. Orion is en route.

A plot showing what Artemis I’s ascent will look like. 

NASA; screenshot by Monisha Ravisetti

Team Orion steps up to the plate. 

“There’s really no time to secure our breath,” Rick LaBrode, lead Artemis I flight director, said during an Aug. 5 press conference. Orion’s trajectory attractive much relies of a multitude of precise maneuvering that’ll take it depressed the complex path outlined below. 

Orion’s trajectory nearby the moon and back is outlined here. Along the way, 10 cubesats will be deployed. 

NASA; screenshot by Monisha Ravisetti

Eventually, the craft will approach the lunar surface, getting as stop as just 60 miles above ground, and conduct a bunch of science experiments to test things like lunar gravity, radiation danger, and maybe even snap a few pics like a re-creation of 1968’s Earthrise. The satellites inside Orion will deploy along the way, seize some physics data, and once all is said and done, the brave small spacecraft will return to our planet and splashdown off the soar of San Diego.

Pick up Orion, extract the data and Artemis I is undone. The whole thing is expected to take six weeks.

If NASA manages to avoid any blips depressed the way, it won’t be long before we find ourselves scouring the internet for info on how to survey the launch of Artemis II. And far into the future, perhaps we’ll reflect on Monday as we sit back and survey a rocket barrel toward not just the moon, but Mars.

OK, I’m getting ahead of myself. 

For now, the goal is a flawless liftoff for Artemis I.