the first giant step to returning astronauts to the lunar surface. nbc s tom fellow has more. standing 322 feet tall, nasa s artemis rocket is the biggest stand on the path and 50 years. and animus is a different. tied with two boosters it will be 50% more powerful then the monster saturn five rockets that carried apollo astronauts to the moon. this morning, all systems are go for a monday launch and a test flights to orbit the moon. we are pushing the vehicle to its limits, really stretching it to get ready for a crew. we mediate the risk as far as we can now it is time to get to launch so that we get that data that we need to put crew on it. within two years, astronauts will ride on top of the rocket in the iranian crew capsule. the entire artemis arion stack
moon. our sights are set clearly on mars. reporter: but first, it has to pass this uncrewed test flight with only mannequins on board. artemis won the launch in florida and mission control is at the johnson space center in houston, texas. this is apollo control, houston. reporter: the same place that controlled every apollo and shuttle mission. this is where it happens as far as human space flight. reporter: rick is in charge of it all as lead flight director. they have been training in this room for this moment for over three years. when flight day comes, it s a whole different ball game. it s when it really gets real. reporter: after launch, the sls rocket will separate from the o ryan crew capsule on top. o ryan will fly a quarter of a million miles to the moon and then go 40,000 miles beyond it farther than any spacecraft designed to carry humans has ever flown. we re going to swing by the moon and when we swing by it on the way there, we ll be 60 miles
he and his team have been training for this for years. flight day is when it really gets real. reporter: after launch the sls rocket will separate from the orion crew capsule on top. orion will fly a quarter million miles to the moon and then go 40,000 miles beyond it. farther than any spacecraft designed to carry humans has ever flown. we re going to swing by the moon and when we swing by it on the way there, we ll be 60 miles off the surface. it will be incredible. the pictures we get as we go by are going to be really impressive. reporter: after orbiting the moon for two weeks, orion will head back to earth, hitting speeds of 25,000 miles per hour and temperatures half the surface of the sun, something engineers can t replicate here on earth. the number one highest priority for the mission is to test the heat shield. liftoff of space shuttle columbia. reporter: it was a damaged heat shield that caused columbia to burn up on reentry, killing seven astronauts. testing it
and 50 years, and artemis is different. flanked with two boosters, it will be 15% more powerful than the monster saturn five rocket that carried apollo astronauts to the moon. this morning, all systems are a go for a monday morning launch, and an uncrewed 40-day test flight to orbit the moon. we are pushing the vehicle to its limits, really stressing it, to get ready for crew. we mitigate the risk as far as we can, now it is time to get to launch, so we get that data that we need to put crew on it. within two years, astronauts will ride on top of the rocket in the around crew capsule. the entire artemis ryan stack look something like a pillow on steroids, with a some critical upgrades for future astronauts. ryan is a lot bigger than apollo. instead of three astronauts, four astronauts fit in these chairs here. they have a retractable ruling machine right here for exercise.
for crew. we have mitigated the risk as far as we can and now it s our time to get to launch so that we get that data that we need to put crew on it. reporter: within two years, astronauts will ride on top of the rocket in the orion crew capsule. the entire artemis/orion stack looks something like apollo on steroids, with some critical upgrades for future astronauts. orion is a lot bigger than apollo. instead of three astronauts, four astronauts fit in these chairs here. they have a retractable rowing machine right here for exercise, and something apollo didn t have. underneath my feet, a commode. and nasa is also testing out this new astronaut suit for future missions, replacing the suits worn by shuttle astronauts. the new suit designed to keep astronauts alive for 144 hours should their spaceship suddenly lose cabin pressure. you see, there s a little feed port here, where using a specialized bag design, we can put liquid nutrition in, think of like a protein shake in