NASA’s Artemis I Moon rocket will head for the Moon on November 14, 2022.
When will Artemis 1 launch? The inaugural launch of NASA’s Artemis Program is now scheduled to take place on Monday, November 14, 2022 according to a NASA blog. That’s along time to wait, but there’s a bonus—it’s destined to be a spectacular night launch.
Technical issues in late August and September—as well as fears of a hurricane—prompted NASA officials to scrub a couple of launches and delay other planned launch dates.
Artemis I is a long-duration 1.3 million miles (2.1 million kilometers) trip to the Moon, past the Moon and then back again. It will test NASA’s new heavy-lift rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS)—the biggest rocket ever built—as well as proving-out the Orion spacecraft for crewed flights to the Moon.
The entire launch vehicle is currently in NASA’s huge Vehicle Assembly Building at Cape Canaveral, but the agency plans to roll the rocket back to the launch pad as early as Friday, November 4.
It’s the first of three Artemis missions on the schedule, with Artemis II in 2024 slated to take four crew and Artemis III due to take two astronauts to the lunar surface in 2025 or later.
New Artemis I launch date and time
Artemis-1 is now scheduled for a launch attempt on Monday, November 14, 2022. The launch window opens at 12:07 a.m. EST and closes 69 minutes later at 01:16 a.m. EST.
New back-up dates for Artemis I launch
NASA has requested back-up launch opportunities for two other dates:
- Wednesday, November 16, at 1:04 a.m. through 3:04 a.m.
- Saturday, November 19, at 1:45 a.m through 3:45 a.m.
When will Artemis 1 launch? The inaugural launch of NASA’s Artemis Program is now
When and where Artemis I will land
If it successfully launches on November 14 then the Artemis I mission will last for just 25 days—a lot less than the 38-42 days hoped for—with splashdown off the coast of San Diego, California in the Pacific Ocean on Friday, December 9, 2022.
Why Artemis I needs specific launch windows
The solar-powered Orion spacecraft’s trajectory must not take it through the path of an eclipse—the shadow of the Moon—for more than 90 minutes otherwise it will completely lose power. The gap between September 6 and September 19 is because of the position of the Moon in its orbit again, which makes the mission impossible.
What Artemis I will do after launch
The spacecraft and rocket will launch, orbit the Earth, and then send Orion and the ESM to enter an elliptical orbit of the Moon that will see them get to within 69 miles/111 kilometers above its surface and about 40,000 miles beyond it in the days after. That’s farther than any spacecraft built for humans has ever flown. It will then return for an even closer flyby the Moon on its way home.
Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.
