2022 is full of first steps to the Moon
After years of development delays, NASA’s Space Launch System, or S.L.S., could make its first journey to space — without any humans — as early as May 2022.
The mission, called Artemis 1, will mark the first in a series of flights under NASA’s Artemis program by S.L.S., NASA’s centerpiece rocket system for getting moon-bound astronauts off Earth. For Artemis 1, S.L.S. will launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to send a capsule named Orion around the moon and back, rehearsing a trajectory that will be performed by Artemis 2, the subsequent mission that is scheduled to carry astronauts sometime in 2024. The third mission, Artemis 3, will result in a moon landing.
Like any major space mission, Artemis 1 has been delayed several times. It was initially planned for 2020, then pushed to various times throughout 2021 because of development challenges and setbacks caused by the pandemic. NASA said on Feb. 2 that “teams are not working any major issues,” but said the latest delay — from March 2022 to subsequent months — was needed to complete tasks required to prepare the rocket for a launchpad test known as a wet dress rehearsal, which is expected to occur in March.