NASA’s SLS rocket is slated to launch for the first time in just three weeks, rumbling off the launch pad with 8.8 million pounds of thrust. There to see it take flight will be thousands upon thousands of spectators, as the Artemis era officially gets underway.
The 98.15 m-tall Space Launch System is the most powerful rocket that NASA has ever built, launching with 15% more power than the Apollo-era Saturn V rocket and nearly 12% more power than the system that delivered the Space Shuttle to orbit. Attending an SLS launch will be a feast for the senses — and a major attraction for tourists visiting Florida’s Space Coast.
Artemis 1 — the inaugural launch of SLS — is currently scheduled for August 29 at 8:33 a.m. ET, with backup windows available on September 2 and September 5. A local tourism official told Florida Today that more than 100,000 visitors are expected to attend the launch, in which SLS will ascend from Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Centre and attempt to send an uncrewed Orion capsule on a 42-day journey around the Moon and back. The launch will signify the start of the Artemis era and potentially set the stage for a crewed repeat of the mission in 2024 and a crewed mission to the lunar surface no earlier than 2025.
As @NASA’s first launch attempt for #Artemis I approaches, teams are completing final checks and closeouts of the @NASA_SLS rocket and @NASA_Orion spacecraft.
NASA is targeting launch on Aug.29 during a two-hour launch window beginning at 8:33am EDT:https://t.co/oCyPZEWgzI pic.twitter.com/MVbBZYbRSX
— NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (@NASAKennedy) August 8, 2022
The Space Coast is no stranger to big crowds. During the Shuttle era, it wasn’t uncommon for half a million people to attend a launch, and as Peter Cranis, executive director of the Space Coast Office of Tourism, told Florida Today, launches of SpaceX Crew Dragons are drawing as many as 250,000 visitors. Accordingly, the estimate of 100,000 people for the SLS launch may be on the low side, though it’s tough to tell.
Indeed, enthusiasm for NASA’s Artemis program hasn’t been great. Earlier this year, none of the contestants on Jeopardy! knew about the upcoming Moon missions, and during a NASA media briefing on August 3, a reporter from Ohio claimed that only two people out of 30 in his newsroom knew that the United States was returning to the Moon. NASA administrator Bill Nelson was taken aback by this claim, saying reporters in Orlando are certainly aware of the Artemis missions and that the eventual Moon landings will capture the public’s attention and reach the nation’s front pages.
Regardless, the influx of visitors to the area could strain the area’s ability to host them. Florida Today says just slightly more than 10,000 hotel rooms and 4,500 vacation units are available in Brevard County. That said, many visitors from the surrounding area, such as Orlando, won’t be staying the night.
For tourists, the Space Coast is truly living up to its name. In addition to its gorgeous beaches, this Atlantic coastal stretch is now witness to a steady stream of rocket launches. The current year alone has already seen 32 launches from Kennedy Space Centre and Cape Canaveral, in a pace that hasn’t been seen since the 1960s.
Tourists can watch these launches from the beach, in designated areas near the launch pad, and even from a rooftop bar. The Kennedy Space Centre Visitor Complex presents another attraction, including the newly opened Gateway: The Deep Space Launch Complex, which features a scale model of SLS, replica spacesuits, and a SpaceX Falcon Heavy booster.