The purpose of the missions is to explore the lunar surface more than ever before and establish the first long-term presence on the moon, according to NASA. The Artemis missions will land the first woman and first person of color on the moon, NASA says. Artemis III would put two astronauts on the moon’s surface a year or two later. After liftoff, Orion will fly a 1.3 million-mile journey for roughly a month to lunar orbit and back.Ī successful return to Earth will let NASA determine whether astronauts can fly in the capsule for a similar mission, Artemis II, in 2024.
Orion is a larger and more complex successor to the Apollo craft. The uncrewed Orion spacecraft, stacked atop the rocket, will travel 280,000 miles from Earth, flying farther than any craft built for humans, according to NASA. The SLS will produce a maximum of 8.8 million pounds of thrust, “exerting more power than any rocket ever,” according to NASA. The mission marks the debut of the Space Launch System rocket, also known as SLS. If this mission is successful, four astronauts will be able to strap in for the next moonshot in 2024, followed by a lunar landing of two astronauts a year or two later.ĥ0 YEARS LATER: US takes its first step back to the moon with launch of Artemis IĪrtemis I is the first part of the Artemis mission the goal is to complete a lunar orbit. The $4.1 billion mission will allow NASA to test the capsule’s heat shield during reentry. This first test flight is expected to last four to six weeks and will end with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. The Artemis I launch will send a new, empty capsule around the moon for the first time in 50 years. Teams were moving forward, but more testing was needed. NASA's Range Safety Operations was able to replace an Ethernet switch, a type of networking hardware, by 12:30 p.m. While the red team completed the hydrogen repair by 11 p.m., NASA reported a technical issue involving a radar. About half an hour later, Blackwell-Thompson gave a "go" for the specialized "red team" to enter the launch pad to troubleshoot the problem. The launch has been scrubbed and delayed four times this year – twice because of technical problems, once for a hurricane and once for a tropical storm.Īt about 9:30 p.m., NASA reported an intermittent hydrogen leak on the rocket's core stage.
“For the Artemis generation, this is for you,” launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson said before liftoff, referring to young people who were not alive for Apollo. EST Wednesday, giving NASA a two-hour window to send the ship into orbit, but technical problems delayed the launch time.Īfter all elements were polled a "go," the rocket launched at 1:47 a.m. EST, just over nine hours ahead of liftoff. NASA teams fueled the 322-foot Space Launch System rocket with liquid hydrogen and oxygen at 3:50 p.m. – NASA launched its massive Artemis I moon rocket early Wednesday, bringing the United States a step closer to landing on the lunar surface for the first time in 50 years since the end of the Apollo program.
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