Artemis I is the first of three planned missions. In 2024, Artemis II is expected to travel a similar route, but manned with a crew. Excitement is growing over the anticipation for NASA’s Artemis I launch on Monday from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. It will be 50 years since humankind traveled to the moon during the last Apollo 17 mission. “We’re very excited and we can feel the excitement mounting,” said Kate Rubins, a candidate for a future Artemis mission. “From an engineering perspective, one of our main objectives is to look at the heat shield. In order to get the heat shield at this 5,000-degree heating and check out all of our objectives around the moon, we need to do this test launch. We’re looking for things like the loading to go out, the launch, and then our eyes are really on re-entry for the heat shield and the capsule recovery.” Standing tall at 322 feet, the Artemis I rocket is the most powerful ever built by NASA. Once in space, the Orion module will detach and travel to the moon. Its orbit will take it about 62 miles above the lunar surface before it continues about 40,000 miles beyond the moon. Full story on CBS8.com: https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/world/anticipation-growing-over-artemis-i-rocket-launch/509-7d05e1da-adc6-4c53-a2a6-268dfc0ac316