An Easley connection to Artemis 1
A half-century after NASA’s Apollo missions, the space agency on Monday aims to take a giant step to returning people to the moon. The Artemis 1 mission comprises a 322-foot rocket set to blast off from Florida (at 8:33am ET), carrying an empty crew capsule to the lunar orbit. In place of astronauts, three test dummies are strapped into the Orion capsule to measure vibration, acceleration and radiation during more than 40 day mission to whip around the moon and travel back to earth. If the launch proves successful, NASA will send a crew to the moon’s orbit on Artemis 2 in 2024. Vice President Harris arrived in Florida Sunday night to attend Monday’s launch at the Kennedy Space Center. If there’s a problem, the launch would have to wait until at least Friday. A 5th grader Girl Scout from Easley’s Forest Acres Elementary, Amelia Pearson, won a national essay contest , “Girl Scouts to the Moon and Back.” Amelia will receive a Space Science badge that has actually been to space on Artemis 1. The mission is a first step to sending the first woman and the first person of color to the moon. And, of course, Amelia, will have to wait a bit to receive her prize, South Carolina Girl Scouts from the Mountains to Midlands believes it will be worth the wait.