Thread by @AFP

'Sight to behold': tourists flock to Florida for Moon rocket launch.

Between 100,000 and 200,000 visitors are expected to attend the launch of Artemis 1, which will propel an empty capsule to the Moon as part of a test for future crewed flights

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Missions to the Moon.

#AFPGraphics looks at the history of missions to the Moon, by country and by mission outcome, before the launch of the American Artemis program

NASA shoots for the Moon, on its way to Mars.

The goal of the flight, baptized Artemis 1, is to test the SLS and the Orion crew capsule that sits atop the rocket. The capsule will orbit the Moon to see if the vessel is safe for people in the near future

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Artemis 1 flight stages.

#AFPGraphics schematic outline of NASA's Artemis I voyage planned for launch on August 29

VIDEO: 🇺🇸 Florida locals eagerly await NASA rocket launch to the Moon

As NASA prepares to launch its #Artemis1 rocket on Monday, residents of the city of Cocoa Beach, near the Kennedy Space Center, show their support for the mission with signs and banners

#UPDATE NASA's most powerful rocket yet is set to blast off on Monday on an uncrewed mission to the Moon to test the Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion crew capsule, but fueling the spacecraft gave the US space agency trouble hours before the launch u.afp.com/wFCy

#BREAKING NASA calls off Monday launch of giant Moon rocket

#UPDATE NASA scrubbed the test flight on Monday of its giant Moon rocket because of a temperature issue with one of the four RS-25 engines.

Alternative dates for launch of the #Artemis1 mission, an uncrewed flight around the Moon, are September 2 and September 5.

#UPDATE NASA called off a test flight of its largest-ever rocket in a setback to the ambitious program to send humans back to the Moon and eventually Mars. "We don't launch until it's right," administrator Bill Nelson said after an engine temperature issue
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