NASA Artemis 1 Space Launch Program: Part of the NASA MOON to MARS Plans

NASA Artemis 1 Program Plans

From The Moon To Mars

Meet the Space Launch System rocket, the Orion crew spacecraft, and Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

These technologies are making a new generation of missions to the Moon – the Artemis Generation – possible. Along with the Gateway and the Human Landing System, NASA is preparing to send more astronauts, conduct more science, and explore more of the Moon than ever before.

SLS is the rocket that will launch Orion and its crew to lunar orbit. While the initial configuration, the Block 1 rocket for Artemis I, will launch with 8.8 million lbs. of thrust (more than even the Saturn V), future variants will be even more powerful. Sending astronauts to the Moon 239,000 miles away – one thousand times farther than the space station in low-Earth orbit – is an inherently risky and dangerous undertaking.

NASA Artemis 1 SLS Mission Launch Map

NASA Artemis 1 SLS Launch - Rocket Stages

After Orion separates from the ICPS, 10 small satellites known as CubeSats will be deployed to perform experiments and technology demonstrations. The CubeSats will conduct a range of investigations and technology demonstrations from studying the Moon or an asteroid to the deep space radiation environment. Each CubeSat provides its own propulsion and navigation to get to various deep space destinations. Artemis I will be the first integrated flight test of NASA’s deep space exploration systems: the Orion spacecraft, the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, and the supporting ground systems at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The first in a series of increasingly complex missions, Artemis I will provide a foundation for human deep space exploration and demonstrate our commitment and capability to extend human presence to the Moon and beyond. The primary goal of Artemis I is to thoroughly test the integrated systems before crewed missions by launching Orion atop the SLS rocket, operating the spacecraft in a deep space environment, testing Orion’s heat shield, and recovering the crew module after reentry, descent, and splashdown. Orion will continue on a path toward a lunar distant retrograde orbit, where it will travel about 40,000 miles beyond the Moon, or a total of about 280,000 miles from Earth, before returning home. This flight test will demonstrate the performance of the SLS rocket on its maiden flight and gather engineering data throughout the journey before Orion returns on a high-speed Earth reentry at speeds of more than 25,000 mph. The high-speed lunar velocity reentry is the top mission priority and a necessary test of Orion’s heat shield performance as it enters Earth’s atmosphere, heating to nearly 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,760 degrees Celsius)—about half as hot as the surface of the Sun—before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean for retrieval and post-flight engineering assessment. The SLS rocket will launch an uncrewed Orion spacecraft from Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s modernized space- port at Kennedy. As the Orion spacecraft orbits Earth, it will deploy its solar arrays, and the interim cryogenic propulsion stage (ICPS) will give Orion the big push— called a trans-lunar injection—needed to leave Earth’s orbit and travel toward the Moon.