The countdown clock starts again. This week, NASA will once again try to launch its Artemis I rocket, and local engineers are watching closely.
It will be the first launch attempt since early September when a leak kept the rocket carrying the Orion space capsule on the ground. It was the second scrub in a week.
Now, the agency says it's ready to try again with a new launch window opening just after 1 a.m. on Wednesday.
"I am super excited. It will be great to see this rocket actually take flight for the first time," said Emily Judd, who leads the Lunar Architecture Team at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton. "I think we’ve all been waiting very anxiously.”
Langley engineers have their fingerprints all over the Artemis mission — which aims to return humans to the moon for the first time in 50 years.
The uncrewed Artemis I will send the Orion space capsule around the moon and back to earth. It's a test to make sure everything is working as it should before astronauts are put inside Artemis II for a similar route.
The goal is for Artemis III to get the first woman and next man — the first person of color — to the lunar surface in the next few years.
“This is the start of a new era of human spaceflight and human exploration," said Judd, who's work focuses more on what happens next.
It's the idea that humans can have extended stays on the moon; even launch missions to take people further than they've ever gone.
Going from a week-ish to two weeks to perhaps a month or even longer," she said. "(Solving problems like) how do we use the Space Launch System and Orion for Mars missions in the future?"
But first, we have to get there. It's a journey that could begin as soon as this week, but Judd says it's important to keep things in perspective.
“This is the first flight of this rocket, and it is a test, so we’re going to be kind of stressing the systems to see how they respond and perform in these environments," she said.
Click HERE for a full breakdown of NASA's scheduled Artemis I coverage.
