Former NASA astronaut, Scott 'Scooter' Altman, joined 'Wake Up' this morning to discuss the Altemis I launch and helped us understand how this will take future generations of space explorers to the moon. Watch! 

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Understanding the Artemis I Mission Wiith Former NASA Astronaut Scott 'Scooter' Altman

in our minds literally in outer space today as we gear up for the Artist one launch later this morning. So joining us now with some expert insight to help break down what we're gonna see. Today is former Nasa astronaut scott scooter Altman scooter. Good to have you here this morning. Thanks so much for getting up early. So for those that don't know explain the significance of this Artist one launch for us here. Oh this is really an incredible time. We're at the dawn of a new generation of space exploration with the most powerful rocket Nasa has ever built to enable humans to go back to the moon and start establishing our presence in the solar system. It just sounds so cool and to hear you talk about your excitement but you know, the launch itself is within a two hour window. So can you explain why that is, you know, a lot of people, I think they just assume it's the countdown and it's done. It goes up Well the the nice part about countdowns that NASA has learned over the last 50 years of flying in space is that you have a certain window where you have to launch but if you have built in holds or uh the thing that drives the window is really orbital mechanics. Um, and we build in launch holds to give the team time. to sort of say, okay, the clocks theoretically not ticking, let's work this problem will pick up the count later and move on. The two hour launch window is set by the lunar orbital mechanics for the mission, Which is kind of nice because it gives you a little bit more time to work on things and make sure everything is good to go when it's time to launch scooter astronauts have not been back to the moon. It's so insane to think about this since 1972 and it's 2022. That just doesn't make a lot of sense given the fact that we are so technologically advanced right now. But it also makes you appreciate what happened back in the 1970s explain why we haven't been to the moon in so long. Well, the Lunar missions in the 70s were a huge achievement, an amazing uh technology breakthrough as we revolutionized different things, miniaturization. And since then we've had a different series of national priorities. We built an international space station. We've had humans on orbit every day for the last 22 years. Americans on orbit every day for the last 22 years. But we've always wanted to do more. And now I think the national priorities are coming together and we're setting our sights on the moon and going on to mars and I'm really excited that we're finally here a rocket is on the pad and it's getting ready to launch today, wow. So do you think once this mission is complete, you know, getting american astronauts back up to the moon and back down and back up. You know, it will be like a regular thing and we'll have to wait decades for it again? Not again, no, I think we'll have another mission. I think it may be two years before the crew goes up to make sure everything's ready for them and a year after that. The plan is to put the 1st 1st woman and the first person of color on the moon and just make it a fully human experience with the diverse corps of astronauts that we have today. Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned that because that's basically the goal by 2025 to have the first woman and the first person of color on on the moon scooter. Do you think that by the way that will be Artemus three? But from an insider standpoint scooter, how do astronauts actually get chosen for a particular mission? Yeah, It always seemed like a mystery when I was waiting for shuttle flights. But the management team looks at the personalities and the capabilities, decides what's needed for that mission and then tries to put the best mix of talent together. So I'm sure there's a lot of astronauts in the office right now trying to figure out what it's gonna take for them to get their name put on the list. But I wish them all good luck now we got to get to this because we keep hearing a lot of reports mentioned the phrase if all goes according to plan and we found out that there was actually an engine issue just a few hours ago, what else could affect takeoff and what other circumstances could alter this mission once in space And do you foresee any of that happening? Well, so there's an awful lot of things that have to go right to get off the path and you're very careful with what's going on before you launch because that's the best chance to take care of things rather than put a failure into orbit. So there's things like the engine issue that they're working on right now. There's weather which looks promising right now which is a plus and then there's the range. Um sometimes boats stray in there and they don't want rocket parts falling on somebody. So they will scrub the launch for a range violation. Then once you get on orbit um you have to decide if something goes wrong, what's the next best thing to do continue on with the mission because you have redundancy or have a return to Earth on this one. I think the odds are we're gonna send the vehicle to the moon once it gets off the path. Just so cool though. Yeah, I can't wait. We are looking forward to the countdown and all the success that they're gonna have. So thank you so much. Former Nasa astronaut Scott Altman for your expert insight and as we all the way, the much anticipated launch a little later this morning we're gonna have it live here for you all