Nasa Moon launch expected to attract up to 400,000 visitors to Florida coast
- The Kennedy Space Centre will be closed to the public, but spectators on local beaches will be able to see the most powerful vehicle Nasa has ever launched
- The uncrewed Artemis 1 lift-off is currently scheduled for 2.17pm local time on Saturday, with the potential for up to a two-hour delay if necessary
Up to 400,000 visitors are expected to flock to the Florida coast on Saturday, hoping to catch a glimpse – and hear the roar – of Nasa’s rocket launch to the Moon.
If the Space Launch System (SLS) without a crew lifts off successfully, it will not only be awe-inspiring but also historic for Nasa, marking the first of its Artemis missions plotting a return to the Moon.
The Kennedy Space Centre will be closed to the public, but spectators on local beaches will be able to see the most powerful vehicle that Nasa has ever launched climb into the sky.
“I remember being a little kid and some of the [Apollo] lunar landings”, Alberto Tirado said on Cocoa Beach, the day before the rocket’s scheduled launch. “So I want to feel that power and what they felt in the 1960s”.
On Monday, when a first launch attempt had to be scuttled at the last moment due to technical issues, local Brevard County authorities had expected between 100,000 and 200,000 visitors.
Don Walker, the county’s communications director, says that though Monday’s numbers have yet to be finalised, they estimate “double that amount on Saturday”.