As Artemis I nears the moon, NASA’s NEA Scout space probe, a smaller-than-a-shoebox freeloader piggybacking into space as a secondary “rideshare” payload, will deploy from a dispenser on the adapter ring that connects Orion to the SLS rocket’s second stage.
If successful, the mission could also lead to another, lesser-known milestone-but one for the exploration of near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) rather than the moon. Dubbed Artemis I, this mission will be the biggest milestone yet in NASA’s Artemis program-a project to send humans to the lunar surface for the first time in more than a half-century.
Taking place as early as August 29, the launch will use the SLS’s 8.8 million pounds of thrust (39.1 million newtons) to send an uncrewed Orion spacecraft and accompanying service module into lunar orbit. After interminable delays and tens of billions of dollars in spending, NASA’s Statue of Liberty–size Space Launch System (SLS) megarocket is at last nearing its inaugural launch.
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