Launch of Artemis I is scheduled until May. This was stated by Tom Whitmeyer, Deputy Assistant Administrator of NASA for the development of research systems.
On March 16, NASA engineers plan to begin a “dress rehearsal” for the launch of the super heavy carrier SLS, which will be involved in the Artemis I mission. Through a mobile transporter, the rocket will be delivered to the LC-39B launch pad. Then it will be fully refueled, and the engineers will perform the pre-launch countdown procedure. After this, the SLS will be returned to the Vehicle Assembly Building.
According to Whitmeyer, after the completion of the described operations, NASA engineers will need at least a month for final tests and preparation of the rocket for launch. This means that the SLS is guaranteed to “miss” the April ballistic window. The next launch windows for the flight to the Moon will be open in the period from May 7 to 21, from June 6 to 16 and from June 29 to July 12.
Recall that during the upcoming launch, SLS will send an unmanned Orion spacecraft to the Moon. It will spend 26 days in space (including six days in orbit around the Moon), after which it will return to Earth. In addition to Orion, SLS will also output a hitchhiker payload in the form of ten devices created on the basis of the CubeSat platform. Some of them will study the Earth and space weather, some will go into lunar orbit, and the NEA Scout probe will deploy a solar sail and go to explore near-Earth asteroids.
Recall that as part of the Artemis I mission, NASA also plans to send Alexa voice assistant to the Moon.
According to https://phys.org
