Watch live: NASA launches Artemis 1 moon mission
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Florida’s Space Coast Office of Tourism manager Meagan Happel told AFP that the “historic nature” of the planned launch has “certainly increased public interest” in the area. In fact, local authorities yesterday predicted that traffic jams around the space centre would begin at 4am — some four-and-a-half hours before the launch window opens. As many as 200,000 visitors were expected in Florida today, hoping — ultimately fruitlessly — to catch a glimpse of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket thundering up through the atmosphere.
Among the crowds was Joanne Bostandji, 45, who travelled all the way from northern England to Florida with her husband and two children for a space-themed holiday.
Mrs Bostandji told AFP yesterday that seeing a rocket blast off to the Moon was “a once-in-a-lifetime thing to experience.”
The family planned to view the launch from Cocoa Beach, not too far from the launch site at the Kennedy Space Centre.
She added: “The plan is to drive very early in the morning and get a spot. I know it’s going to be from a far distance, but I still think it’s going to be a sight to behold.”
According to Ms Happel and her colleagues at the tourism office, the Artemis programme’s prestigious Moon launches are an economic boon for the Space Coast.
It is estimated that a family of three visiting the area on vacation will spend an average of $1,300 (£1,112) over the course of three to four days.
One local businessperson benefiting from the planned launch today is Brenda Mulberry, who owns a space memorabilia shop on the main road leading towards the Kennedy Space Center.
Ms Mulberry’s store, “Space Shirts”, produces the Artemis t-shirts she sells — 1,000 were made this Saturday alone.
The last few days, she told AFP, have seen a veritable slew of customers. She added: “They’re just excited, I think, to see a NASA launch because the private space business is not so motivating to people.”
NASA’s SLS, she explained, feels like it “belongs to the people” in a way that SpaceX rockets just do not. She added: “It’s their rocket.”
Another visitor to Florida this weekend for the launch is Orlando resident Sabrina Morley, 43, who rented an apartment near the coast for the occasion.
Accompanied by her two children and a few dozen others, she planned to take a boat chartered by a firm called Star Fleet Tours to get a unique perspective on the Artemis I launch.
Ms Morley explained: “We’ll go out into the ocean, as close as they can get to the launch, and we’ll watch the launch from the boat.
“I’ve never been this close to a launch before.”
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Ms Morley noted that she could recall — as a child, standing in her parent’s backyard — watching the space shuttles take off from the Kennedy Space Center.
These, she explained, looked like “an orange ball of smoke” rising into the sky.
She added: “we would hear the sonic booms.”
Ms Morley said that she likes that the Artemis programme will be going on to see a woman walk on the Moon for the first time — possibly as early as 2025.
Her daughter brought along an imitation astronaut helmet to wear.
She concluded: “Representation matters.”
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