Nasa launched its colossal Artemis moon rocket on Wednesday morning - kicking off the US space agency’s exploration programme 50 years after the final Apollo moon mission.
The towering next-generation rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral in Florida, about 6.45am UK time to send its Orion capsule on a 25-day test flight around the moon and back without astronauts aboard.
The hotly awaited launch follows two failed attempts earlier in the year, that were called off due to technical issues.
The launch of the multi-billion-dollar, 32-story Space Launch System (SLS) rocket marks the beginning of Nasa’s Artemis programme, and comes 50 years after its last Apollo lunar mission.
We are going.
— NASA (@NASA) November 16, 2022
For the first time, the @NASA_SLS rocket and @NASA_Orion fly together. #Artemis I begins a new chapter in human lunar exploration. pic.twitter.com/vmC64Qgft9
Nasa managers on Monday gave the “go” to proceed with flight preparations after 10 weeks beset by multiple engineering difficulties, back-to-back hurricanes and two excursions trundling the spacecraft out of its hangar to the launch pad.
Late in the countdown on Tuesday night, a hydrogen fuel line leak was detected, leading Nasa managers to send a “red team” of technicians out to the launch pad to tighten a loose valve connection. The gambit worked and the leak was fixed, Nasa said.
Around the same time, crews overseeing the launch complex also scrambled to replace an internet connection that malfunctioned.
After receiving a final “go” at around 6.40am on Wednesday, the Artemis I countdown finally climaxed with the rocket’s four main R-25 engines and its twin solid-rocket boosters roaring to life, sending the spacecraft streaking skyward and lighting up the night sky over Florida’s central Atlantic coast.
About 90 minutes after launch, the rocket’s upper stage is designed to lift the Orion capsule out of Earth’s orbit, on course for a 25-day flight that will bring it to within 60 miles of the lunar surface before sailing 40,000 miles beyond the moon and back to Earth.
The capsule is expected to splash down on December 11.
Launch attempts on August 29 and September 3 were aborted because of fuel line leaks and other technical problems that Nasa has since resolved. While moored to its launch pad last week, the rocket endured fierce winds and rains from Hurricane Nicole, forcing a two-day flight postponement.
Cellist @YoYo_Ma performed a rendition of “America the Beautiful” with the Philadelphia Orchestra (@PhilOrch) to commemorate the launch of #Artemis I to the Moon. pic.twitter.com/HjBgd51K62
— NASA (@NASA) November 16, 2022
Weather is always a factor beyond Nasa’s control. The latest forecast called for an 80 per cent chance of favourable conditions during Wednesday’s two-hour launch window, Nasa said.
On Tuesday afternoon, launch teams began the lengthy and delicate process of loading the rocket’s core-stage fuel tanks with hundreds of thousands of gallons of super-cooled liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen propellant. About five hours before liftoff, those tanks were filled, achieving a “major milestone” in launch preparations, a Nasa spokesperson said.
Dubbed Artemis I, the mission marks the first flight of the SLS rocket and the Orion capsule together, built by Boeing Co and Lockheed Martin Corp, respectively, under contract with NASA.
It also signals a major change in direction for NASA’s post-Apollo human spaceflight program after decades focused on low-Earth orbit with space shuttles and the International Space Station.
Named for the ancient Greek goddess of the hunt - and Apollo’s twin sister - Artemis aims to return astronauts to the moon’s surface as early as 2025.
Twelve astronauts walked on the moon during six Apollo missions from 1969 to 1972 - the only spaceflights yet to place humans on the lunar surface. But Apollo, born of the Cold War-era US-Soviet space race, was less science-driven than Artemis.
