NASA Starts Countdown To Historic Artemis Launch

The countdown for NASA's Artemis 1 launch, an unmanned test flight around the moon that will be the first step in an ambitious plan to send people back to the moon for the first time in 50 years,

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And investigate the viability of establishing permanent human settlements there as well as on Mars, began on Saturday.

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With just under 48 hours until the rocket is set to launch from Florida's Kennedy Space Center, NASA started the countdown clock at 10:23 a.m. on Saturday.

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Three cutting-edge mannequins will be aboard Artemis 1 as it travels to the farthest point a spaceship made for humans has ever left the Earth's atmosphere to study the impacts of long-duration space travel.

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$20 billion. The rocket's development cost that amount, plus an additional $4.1 billion for each flight.

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The Orion spacecraft is the most powerful NASA has ever developed, somewhat taller than the Statue of Liberty with 8.8 million pounds of propulsion and a 212-foot core stage.

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The launch window is set for Monday between 8:33 and 10:33.

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