the long-awaited event, delayed for years.<\/a> They huddled together ahead of the Space Launch System rocket\u2019s exit from the building, built in the 1960s to accommodate the Saturn V rockets that sent 24 astronauts to the moon during the Apollo program. The cheering crowd was led by NASA\u2019s new administrator Jared Isaacman and all four astronauts assigned to the mission.<\/p>\n\u201cWhat a great day to be here,\u201d said Reid Wiseman, the crew commander. \u201cIt is awe-inspiring.\u201d<\/p>\n
Weighing in at 11 million pounds (5 million kilograms), the Space Launch System rocket and Orion crew capsule on top made the move aboard a massive transporter that was used during the Apollo and shuttle eras. It was upgraded for the SLS rocket\u2019s extra heft.<\/p>\n
The first and only other SLS launch \u2014 which sent an empty Orion capsule into orbit around the moon \u2014 took place back in November 2022.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis one feels a lot different, putting crew on the rocket and taking the crew around the moon,\u201d NASA\u2019s John Honeycutt said on the eve of the rocket\u2019s rollout.<\/p>\n
Heat shield damage and other capsule problems during the initial test flight required extensive analyses and tests, pushing back this first crew moonshot until now. The astronauts won\u2019t orbit the moon or even land on it. That giant leap will take come on the third flight in the Artemis lineup a few years from now.<\/p>\n
Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover and Christina Koch \u2014 longtime NASA astronauts with spaceflight experience \u2014 will be joined on the 10-day mission by Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, a former fighter pilot awaiting his first rocket ride.<\/p>\n
They will be the first people to fly to the moon since Apollo 17\u2019s Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt closed out the triumphant lunar-landing program in 1972. Twelve astronauts strolled the lunar surface, beginning with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in 1969. Only four moonwalkers are still alive; Aldrin, the oldest, turns 96 on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are so fired up that we are headed back to the moon,\u201d Wiseman said. \u201cThey just want to see humans as far away from Earth as possible discovering the unknown.\u201d<\/p>\n
NASA is waiting to conduct a fueling test of the SLS rocket on the pad in early February before confirming a launch date. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe’ve, I think, zero intention of communicating an actual launch date\u201d until completing the fueling demo, Isaacman told reporters.<\/p>\n
The space agency has only five days to launch in the first half of February before bumping into March.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute\u2019s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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