Doha: The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced on Saturday the beginning of the transfer of its new giant rocket to the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center, in anticipation of a high-stakes mission in early February that aims to send astronauts around the Moon and return them to Earth in the first crewed lunar flight of its kind in more than 50 years. The rocket, standing 322 feet (98 meters) tall, began its slow journey at about 1 mile per hour from the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center at dawn. The trek to the launch pad, a distance of roughly four miles (six kilometers), is expected to continue through the night.
According to Qatar News Agency, this rollout marks the second test of the Space Launch System (SLS) and the first with a crew aboard. Four astronauts will live inside the Orion capsule, where they will test life support systems and communications as well as conduct maneuvering rehearsals in space. The SLS is the most powerful rocket NASA has built to date, generating nearly 15% more thrust at liftoff than the Saturn V rocket used in the 1960s.
The mission's crew includes three NASA astronauts-Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch-in addition to Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, who is participating in his first spaceflight. This flight is part of the Artemis program, a multi-billion-dollar effort that follows an uncrewed test flight in 2022 and sets the stage for Artemis 3, which aims to land astronauts near the lunar south pole as soon as possible and establish a sustainable lunar base as a future launch point toward Mars.
Although the mission does not include landing on the lunar surface or entering lunar orbit, the crew will be the first to circle the Moon since Apollo 17 in 1972.