NASA's Space Launch System is set to take flight Saturday afternoon on an uncrewed trip to the Moon after the launch was called off Monday.
Why it matters: This mission — called Artemis I — is the first in NASA's bid to return people to the surface Moon for the first time since the end of the Apollo program.
What's happening: The two-hour launch window for the SLS opens at 2:17pm ET on Saturday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
- Once it launches, the SLS is expected to send the uncrewed Orion capsule on a journey around the Moon before the spacecraft comes back to Earth for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean about 40 days later.
- NASA will air live coverage of the launch via NASA TV.
- Right now, there is a 60% chance of good weather at launch time.
Between the lines: NASA was originally expected to get the SLS off the ground on Monday, but the launch was scrubbed due to multiple technical errors.
- One of those issues involved a sensor showing that one of the four rocket engines wasn't getting to the right temperature.
- Now mission managers think the problem was actually due to a faulty sensor, not the engine itself, and they made the decision to push ahead to launch this weekend.
The big picture: More attention is turning to the Moon now as NASA aims to land people back on the lunar surface in 2025.
- China and Russia have also announced plans to create a joint research station on the Moon.
