NASA will make a second attempt this Saturday to launch the unmanned lunar mission Artemis I into space from Cape Canaveral (Florida), which marks the beginning of the race for a future colonization of the terrestrial satellite. The objective of this historic mission is to put to test the capabilities of the powerful SLS (Space Launch System) rocket, 98 meters high, and the Orion spacecraft, with capacity for four astronauts. The two-hour launch window opens at 2:17 p.m. local time (6:17 p.m. GMT) on Saturday the 3rd and if for technical, meteorological or other reasons the takeoff has to be delayed again, the next attempt will be made on Monday. September 5. It will carry out a six-week mission and orbit the moonIt is expected that, as happened on August 29 when a first attempt had to be canceled due to a failure in one of the four RS-25 engines of the SLS rocket, the so-called “Coast of Space “, the region where the space center is located, is filled with visitors eager to contemplate the launch. The SLS rocket, with a cost of 4,100 million dollars (about 4,088 million euros at current exchange rates), will carry in its upper cone the spacecraft Orion, which will carry out a six-week mission during which it will orbit the moon. Orion, the fastest and most powerful spacecraft ever built, capable of reaching 39,428 km/h, will have traveled more than two million kilometers when it returns to Earth. If the launch takes place this Saturday and there are no unforeseen events in the mission, Orion will splash down in the Pacific Ocean west of San Diego (California) on October 11. Pre-liftoff adjustments and repairs Since the failed Aug. 29 attempt, crews have updated procedures, practiced operations and refined timelines, NASA said. Among other things, they fixed a leak in one of the pipes, called by NASA umbilicals, which go from the mobile launch tower to the rocket and the spacecraft to supply power, fuel, coolant and communications. Crews also readjusted or tightened bolts to ensure a tight seal when feeding supercooled propellants through those lines. NASA. Teams will adjust procedures to cool down the engines, also called a start-up purge test, 30 to 45 minutes earlier in the countdown during the liquid hydrogen fast-fill phase for the core stage. This will give additional time to cool down the engines to temperatures suitable for launch. NASA has two more Artemis missions plannedU.S. Space Force meteorologists forecast 60% favorable weather conditions, which will improve throughout the window by Saturday.Following the historic Artemis I mission, NASA it has two other Artemis missions planned. The second will be a manned trip to the Moon and the third will put the first crew in more than 50 years on the surface of the Earth’s satellite. That crew will be the first woman and the first person of color to travel to the Moon. NASA’s Apollo 17 mission, launched in December 1972, was the last in which American astronauts traveled to the Moon and walked on its surface. .Man first set foot on the Moon on July 20, 1969 during NASA’s historic Apollo XI mission. The Saturn V rocket, with the Eagle spacecraft at its tip, took off from Cape Canaveral four days earlier with Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin as crew members.