Artemis 2 completed a "wet dress rehearsal" today - basically doing everything except loading the crew and firing the rocket - setting up a potential manned launch on March 6th. This will send four astronauts - three American and one Canadian - around the far side of the moon. They'll be further from earth than any humans ever and will eclipse the distance record set by Apollo 13. An actual landing is still years away once they get the landing system sorted out. You know - minor details. But a trip around the moon is still pretty cool and may be just a couple of weeks away.

https://www.space.com/space-exploration/artemis/this-is-really-getting-real-nasas-artemis-2-moon-rocket-fueling-test-went-so-well-astronauts-could-launch-march-6

Sullivan908 said:

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Artemis 2 completed a "wet dress rehearsal" today - basically doing everything except loading the crew and firing the rocket - setting up a potential manned launch on March 6th. This will send four astronauts - three American and one Canadian - around the far side of the moon. They'll be further from earth than any humans ever and will eclipse the distance record set by Apollo 13. An actual landing is still years away once they get the landing system sorted out. You know - minor details. But a trip around the moon is still pretty cool and may be just a couple of weeks away.

https://www.space.com/space-exploration/artemis/this-is-really-getting-real-nasas-artemis-2-moon-rocket-fueling-test-went-so-well-astronauts-could-launch-march-6

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Yup, very cool. I will be watching.

Love it. I think its great when humanity pushes the boundaries of whats possible

Astronaut Christina Koch is an N. C. State graduate and will be on the mission. She was on the Space Station in 2019 and it was going to be visible in Raleigh. State was playing Syracuse in a night game and I was hoping they were going to video link with the Space Station and have Christina be doing the wolf sign from outer space while zooming the picture of the stadium. The crowd would have gone crazy and we had the technology to do it.

I was 12 when Neil Armstrong walked on the Moon. It should never have taken this long to go back. 1972 was the last Apollo mission and I am excited to see the USA expand their horizons again!

Sullivan908 said:

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Artemis 2 completed a "wet dress rehearsal" today - basically doing everything except loading the crew and firing the rocket - setting up a potential manned launch on March 6th. This will send four astronauts - three American and one Canadian - around the far side of the moon. They'll be further from earth than any humans ever and will eclipse the distance record set by Apollo 13. An actual landing is still years away once they get the landing system sorted out. You know - minor details. But a trip around the moon is still pretty cool and may be just a couple of weeks away.

https://www.space.com/space-exploration/artemis/this-is-really-getting-real-nasas-artemis-2-moon-rocket-fueling-test-went-so-well-astronauts-could-launch-march-6

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I was under the impression that Artemis 3 would land in the South Pole region in 2028 IF (there's that word again) everything goes to plan.

I think that's the plan, but it depends on SpaceX getting their hardware and landing system up to speed. The fact that NASA now has Blue Origin working in parallel on a landing system makes me think it might take a while. China could possibly end up landing before us (?).

I didn't know Koch was an NC State grad. Cool!

Sullivan908 said:

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I think that's the plan, but it depends on SpaceX getting their hardware and landing system up to speed. The fact that NASA now has Blue Origin working in parallel on a landing system makes me think it might take a while. China could possibly end up landing before us (?).

I didn't know Koch was an NC State grad. Cool!

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Yes. It's truly Space race 2.0 with an adversary even more dangerous than the Soviets.

Well, so much for March 6. Got some kind of new issue to fix. The rocket is being rolled back to the hangar.

https://www.space.com/space-exploration/artemis/problem-pops-up-with-artemis-2-moon-rocket-this-will-almost-assuredly-impact-the-march-launch-window

Sullivan908 said:

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Well, so much for March 6. Got some kind of new issue to fix. The rocket is being rolled back to the hangar.

https://www.space.com/space-exploration/artemis/problem-pops-up-with-artemis-2-moon-rocket-this-will-almost-assuredly-impact-the-march-launch-window

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I'm glad they caught it before lighting the candle.