If you live or travel to the Space Coast it’s a regular occurrence to see a rocket launch from SpaceX. But the historic Artemis 1 launch at the end of August will be different.
NASA will be launching the first test flight around the moon since the shuttle program ended in 2011.
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Officials with Florida’s Space Coast Office of Tourism expect more than 100,000 people to travel to watch the Space Launch System lift off for the first time.
What’s the difference between this launch and the SpaceX launches?
These new rockets are big. The launch itself will be noisy. It’s going the shake the ground and rattle windows — reminiscent of the old days back in the Apollo era.
NASA is targeting 8:33 a.m. Aug. 29 for the launch. The backup dates will be Sept. 2 and Sept. 5, which is Labor Day.
Officials say if the launch is pushed the Labor Day they are expecting tourism numbers to climb close to 200,000.
For reference, NASA estimated about 700,000 to 1 million people came to watch the final space shuttle mission on July 8, 2011.