NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket lifted off from Launch Pad 39B at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 6.35 p.m. EDT (11.35 p.m.) on Wednesday, 1 April, sending four astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft on a planned test flight around the Moon and back.
“Today’s launch marks a defining moment for our nation and for all who believe in exploration,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman.
“Aboard Orion are four remarkable explorers preparing for the first crewed flight of this rocket and spacecraft, a true test mission that will carry them farther and faster than any humans in a generation.
“Artemis II is the start of something bigger than any one mission. It marks our return to the Moon, not just to visit, but to eventually stay on our Moon Base, and lays the foundation for the next giant leaps ahead.”
The successful launch is the beginning of an approximately 10-day mission for NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
As the first crewed mission of NASA’s Artemis programme, among its objectives, the flight will demonstrate life support systems for the first time with crew and lay the foundation for an enduring presence on the Moon ahead of future missions to Mars.
After reaching space, Orion deployed its solar array wings, enabling the spacecraft to receive energy from the Sun, while the crew and engineers on the ground immediately began transitioning the spacecraft from launch to flight operations to start checking out key systems.
“Artemis II is a test flight, and the test has just begun,” said NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya.
“Over the next 10 days, Reid, Victor, Christina, and Jeremy will put Orion through its paces so the crews who follow them can go to the Moon’s surface with confidence.
“We are one mission into a long campaign, and the work ahead of us is greater than the work behind us.”
About 49 minutes into the test flight, the SLS rocket’s upper stage fired to put Orion into an elliptical orbit around Earth. A second planned burn by the stage will propel Orion, which the crew named “Integrity,” into a high Earth orbit extending about 46,000 miles beyond Earth. After the burn, Orion will separate from the stage, flying free on its own.
In several hours, a ring on the rocket’s upper stage, which will be a safe distance away from the spacecraft, will deploy four CubeSats – small satellites from Argentina’s Comisión Nacional de Actividades Espaciales, German Aerospace Center, Korea AeroSpace Administration, and Saudi Space Agency – to perform scientific investigations and technology demonstrations.
The astronauts, with Mission Control Center teams at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, will continue checking spacecraft systems.
During a planned multi-hour lunar flyby on Monday, 6 April, the astronauts took photographs and provided observations of the Moon’s surface as the first people to lay eyes on some areas of the far side.
Although the lunar far side was only partially illuminated during the flyby, NASA said it expected that the conditions should create shadows that stretch across the surface, enhancing relief and revealing depth, ridges, slopes and crater rims that are often difficult to detect under full illumination.
Crew observations and other human health scientific investigations during the mission, such as AVATAR, will inform science during future Moon missions.
As part of the Golden Age of innovation and exploration, NASA will send Artemis astronauts on increasingly difficult missions to explore more of the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and to build on our foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars.
Top image courtesy of NASA/Aubrey Gemignani
Body image courtesy of NASA/Joel Kowsky