On this date, NASA launches its giant rocket towards the moon

 The US space agency (NASA) will try to launch its new giant rocket towards the moon, Saturday, after it resolved technical problems that caused the delay in this process last Monday, and the weather forecast appears to be favourable. The rocket is scheduled to launch at 14:17 local time (18:17 GMT) from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, with the possibility of a delay of up to two hours if necessary.

"The weather looks good" and is not expected to be a "hindrance" to the launch, forecast analyst Melody Lovin told a news conference. NASA was also working on fixing the technical problems that delayed the launch of the rocket at the last minute last Monday.

The official in charge of the SLS missile program, John Honeycutt, said Thursday that at first, one of the four main engines of the missile appeared to be very hot, but later it turned out to be just a misreading due to a sensor problem, as well as a leak in the tank had to be fixed. fuel.

"We were able to find what we believe was the source of the leak and fix it," said launch manager Charlie Blackwell-Thompson. The Artemis 1 mission is to launch an unmanned Orion capsule into orbit around the moon, to verify that the craft is safe for future astronauts, including the first woman and first people of color to walk on the moon.

"There is no guarantee that we will succeed in the launch on Saturday, but we will try," said Mike Sarafin, the NASA administrator for the Artemis mission. After 42 days in space, the main goal is to test the capsule's heat shield as it re-enters Earth's atmosphere, at a speed of nearly 40,000 kilometers per hour and a temperature half the temperature of the Sun's surface.

Mannequins will be carried in the vehicle, which is equipped with sensors that record vibrations and radiation levels. The capsule will reach 64,000 km beyond the moon, farther than any other spacecraft capable of transporting humans so far.

After this first mission, "Artemis 2" will transport astronauts to the moon in 2024, without landing on its surface. The first landing of a manned mission will happen to the crew of "Artemis 3" in the year 2025 at the earliest. And NASA seeks to launch one mission annually thereafter.

The goal is to establish a permanent human presence on the moon, with the establishment of an orbiting space station ("gateway") and a base on its surface.