ATLANTA — In about a day, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is getting ready to take a historic step in its mission to return to the moon.
At the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, you can see the rocket that will send four astronauts back to the moon at 6:24 p.m. on Wednesday evening.
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Severe Weather Team 2 Meteorologist Eboni spoke to NASA about the Artemis II mission and the next steps on the mission to the moon, and beyond.
“I’m hopeful we’re going to get off the ground tomorrow night,” Katie Oriti, manager of the Orion European Service Module Integration Office, said, speaking one-on-one with Channel 2 Action News just hours before the historic flight.
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Right now, the crew of four astronauts are in isolation ahead of their 10 day, 685,000 mile journey deeper into space, farther into space, than any human in history.
“Once we get close to the moon, we actually use the moon’s gravity to essentially slingshot the spacecraft back towards Earth,” Oriti said.
NASA said Wednesday’s mission is a major step in returning the United States to the moon, building a permanent lunar base and setting up a potential trip to Mars.
“The intent and objective of this mission is to test our crew and life support systems to make sure that they function and perform as expected,” Oriti said. Want to make sure that all of those systems work as expected before we go do more complex missions for the Artemis program."
Oriti said she’s heard the crew say multiple times that they’re not going to the moon for themselves, but “for all of humanity.”
“It’s really for all humanity to inspire the next generation to be explorers, be curious, be inspired by space and technology,” Oriti said.
Lift off is scheduled for Wednesday at 6:24 p.m. and we’ll be broadcasting it here live during Channel 2 Action News at 6.
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