You Know NASA’s Biggest-Ever Rocket Is Launching To The Moon On Monday Morning, Right? Here’s How To Watch

Have you heard about the biggest rocket launch in human history?

It’s getting almost zero press coverage, but before breakfast on Monday, August 29, 2022, NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket will make its maiden voyage.

It’s now on the launchpad in Florida.

It’s the first step in a program of flights to get the first woman and the first person of color on the surface of the Moon by 2025.

Part of the Artemis-1 mission, the SLS is taking NASA’s new Orion spacecraft to the Moon and back on a daring 1.3 million mile journey beyond the Moon lasting 42 days, 3 hours and 20 minutes. It will splashdown off San Diego on October 10, 2022.

There will be no astronauts on board Orion this time—this one’s just practice—but the sights and sounds of the biggest-ever rocket launch is something not to miss.

When is the NASA Artemis-1 launch?

The un-crewed autonomous Artemis-1 mission will launch between 8:33 and 10:33 a.m. EST on Monday, August 29, 2022 from Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.

If weather or some other mishap prevents it then the next launch window is lunchtime on Friday, September 2, 2022.

How to watch a live stream of Artemis-1

Coverage begins at 6:30 a.m. EST on NASA TV, which is on YouTube (below), the NASA website, Facebook, Twitch and in 4k on NASA’s UHD channel.

Although it’s the launch you’ll tune-in for come back later for live views of Earth from orbit and during Orion’s during outbound coast to the Moon.

The exact time depends on exact liftoff time, but it’s 5:30 p.m. EST if liftoff happens on schedule at 8:33 a.m. EST.

How to watch a live stream of Artemis-1 in virtual reality

It’s also going to be possible to watch the launch in 360º via a virtual reality (VR) headset. Space Explorers: Artemis Ascending from Felix & Paul Studios—with commentary from retired NASA astronauts Karen Nyberg and Doug Hurley—will be livestreamed on:

How big and powerful is the SLS?

Standing 322 ft. high, SLS will be the most powerful rocket in the world to launch since NASA’s final Saturn V “Moon rocket” took the Skylab space station into Earth orbit in 1973. At 8.8 million pounds (3.9 million kg) of thrust, SLS is the most powerful rocket ever produced. It may soon be surpassed by SpaceX’s Starship, but right now it’s the biggest-ever.

What is Artemis-1?

Artemis-1 is an un-crewed flight test mission during which NASA’s Orion spacecraft, European Service Model (ESM) and NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS)—the most powerful rocket in the world—will fly to the Moon.

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 62 miles above its surface and about 40,000 miles beyond it. That’s farther than any spacecraft built for astronauts has ever flown.

What is Artemis-2?

Scheduled for 2024, Artemis-2 will be shorter 10-day repeat of Artemis-1, but with four astronauts on board to test Orion’s life support systems. Artemis-2 will orbit Earth twice before going 4,600 miles beyond the far side of the Moon.

It will be the first crewed lunar flyby of the 21st century.

What is Artemis-3?

Artemis-3, destined for 2025 or later, will be the first time astronauts have landed on the lunar surface since the Apollo 17 left the Moon in December, 1972.

A 30 day mission will see Orion—with four astronauts inside—rendezvous with an embryonic Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway, before one female astronaut and one male astronaut descend in a SpaceX Starship vehicle to the lunar surface close to Shackleton Crater at the Moon’s South Pole. The mission will involve four spacewalks in 6.5 days.

Further Artemis missions each year through 2030 will help build the Lunar Gateway’s habitation module and descend a further three times to the surface of the Moon.

And it all starts on Monday! Don’t miss it!

Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.