Artemis Iin numbers

By Eleanor Stubbs and Marco Chacón, CNN
Updated December 16, 2022

Almost 50 years later, NASA is aiming to return humans to the lunar surface with the Artemis program. This next chapter of lunar exploration will land the first woman and first person of color on the moon, paving the way for a human presence on the moon and beyond -- and it began with Artemis I.

Here’s a look at the big numbers that made the Artemis I mission a monumental feat.

Artemis I rocket is in position at Launch Complex 39B as the full moon lights up the night sky.

A1

The SLS and Orion at Kennedy Space Center in Florida get ready for a wet dress rehearsal in June 2022.
24,500

miles per hour

(39,400 kph) is the speed at which Orion entered the Earth’s atmosphere on its return.

A2

The Artemis I rocket stack, many stories high, is placed on a crawler-transporter in the Vehicle Assembly Building.

A3

The SLS and Orion rocket stack prepare for rollout to the launch complex in August 2022 ahead of the Artemis I launch.
2,000

pounds

(900 kg) of weight was saved by making the rocket boosters single-use instead of reusable. The Space Launch System (SLS) did not carry the fuel or the propulsion system it would have needed to haul it back during its return to Earth.

A4

This is a rendering of the Orion spacecraft flying in front of the moon with the Earth in the distance.

A5

NASA artist’s concept of Orion’s lunar flyby.
1 hr 53 sec

after liftoff, the rocket was 2,400 miles (3,860 km) above Earth. The remaining upper stage of the Space Launch System detached and Orion completed the trip to the moon without the rocket.

A6

This is a NASA animation of what it may have looked like when Orion headed to the moon.
10

CubeSats

hitched a ride on the rocket. These small satellites aimed to carry out their own science and technology investigations but at least four failed.

A8

This is an artist’s concept of Orion’s return to Earth.

A9

This is a NASA artist’s concept of Orion’s return to Earth in a blaze.
A hard case with shiny black panels on a white table with a person in blue surgical gloves and a hairnet next to it.

A10

A CubeSat is being prepared for loading onto Artemis I.
90,000

gallons

(409,150 liters) of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen burned every minute for eight minutes by four RS-25 engines that were part of the Space Launch System.

A11

11

parachutes

made up Orion’s parachute system. They deployed in precise sequence to slow the spacecraft from 324 mph (520 kph) to a landing speed of 17 mph (27 kph), so it was ready for splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.

B1

268,563

miles

(432,210 km) was the distance the Artemis I mission traveled from Earth, far beyond the moon.

B2

Twin rocket boosters jettisoned from the SLS core stage.
A 3D model of the Orion spacecraft is shown.
5,000°F

(2,760°C) is nearly the temperature that Orion’s heat shield endured as it returned through Earth’s atmosphere -- that’s half as hot as the surface of the sun.

B5

A test version of Orion carried by a transporter, in front of the Vehicle Assembly Building.

B6

A test version of Orion is rolled to Space Launch Complex 46.
2,000,000+

pounds

(900,000+ kg) of solid propellant (PBAN, ammonium perchlorate and aluminum powder) filled the twin rocket boosters alone. And it was all used up within two minutes.

B7

8.8

million pounds

(4 million kg) was the thrust the Space Launch System produced to leave Earth’s atmosphere. That’s equal to the combined thrust of 126 of the largest civil aircraft, the Airbus A380.

B8

322

feet

(98 m) was the height of the Artemis I rocket stack -- a little taller than the Statue of Liberty.

B9

NASA successfully conducted a major ground test for a full-scale test version of the rocket booster in June 2016.
The white Orion spacecraft is shown inside a huge metal structure.

B11

The Orion spacecraft is shown inside a thermal vacuum chamber in March 2020.
Illustration of the Artemis I emblem of the Moon with a rocket blasting off in front of it and a red and a blue pathway.

C1

The Artemis I emblem.
1.3

million miles

(2.1 million km) was the total distance that the Artemis I mission covered.

C2

5.8

million pounds

(2.6 million kg) was the weight of the Space Launch System at liftoff. That's the weight of eight fully loaded 747 jumbo jets.

C3

A huge rocket on its side being transported on a road dwarfs people in the foreground.

C4

The SLS core stage is transported to the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center.
0

astronauts

were onboard the uncrewed mission to test systems in a spaceflight environment.

C5

NASA conducted a successful “hot fire” -- a final stage test where all four RS-25 engines fired in January 2021.
An orange rocket blasting off from a huge metal support with fire and smoke clouds.

C7

An artist’s concept of the SLS and Orion as it lifted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
100

miles

(161 km) was the altitude the Space Launch System reached eight minutes after liftoff before its core stage separated and fell into the Pacific Ocean, landing east of Hawaii.

C8

25.5

days

is the duration of the Artemis I mission to the moon and back.

C9

A 3D model of the moon’s far-side surface is shown.
The twin rocket boosters, many stories high inside a bay, are surrounded by metal supports.

C11

The fully stacked twin solid rocket boosters were stored inside the Vehicle Assembly Building in June 2021.
2

rocket boosters

blasted the Space Launch System out of Earth’s gravitational pull, only to detach two minutes after liftoff. The boosters then fell into the Atlantic Ocean, north of the Bahamas.

C12

7

days

is how long it took to get from the Earth to the moon.

C13

Silver Orion spacecraft floats on an orange inflatable in a pool with people swimming alongside.

C14

The recovery team practiced Orion recovery techniques in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
3 min, 40 sec

was all it took for the rocket to lift off and go into orbit.

C15