NASA’s historic lunar mission took flight in the early hours of Wednesday morning (Florida USA) after months of anticipation and setbacks.
The mission, named Artemis I, has sent a crewless spacecraft around the moon, paving the way for NASA to return astronauts to the lunar surface for the first time in half a century.
It is the first time since Apollo in 1972 that a spaceship designed to carry a human mission has captured a view of Earth.
Artemis I’s test flight, will feature the first blastoff of the massive Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, the most powerful in the world. The mission also propelled the Orion crew capsule into orbit around the Moon where the spacecraft will remain in space for 42 days before returning to Earth. Orion, which is designed to carry the next human mission to the moon is hosting inanimate passengers, robots installed to collect data.
Orion will reach its closest point to the moon – 60 miles – on November 21 before entering a distant retrograde orbit around the moon on November 25.
After orbiting the moon, Orion will make its return trip, completing its journey in about 25.5 days. The capsule is then scheduled to splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego on December 11, when recovery teams will be waiting nearby to haul it to safety.
The team will evaluate whether Orion performs as intended and will be ready to support its first crewed mission to lunar orbit, which is currently scheduled for 2024.
“ESM covers all the basic needs of astronauts, such as water, oxygen, nitrogen, temperature control, force and propulsion,” Anezina Solomonidou research fellow at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and senior scientist at Hellenic Space Centre wrote on Facebook while explaining the importance of a mission in a post.
Artemis I will also deliver the first biology experiment to deep space, the beginning of many increasingly difficult Artemis missions as NASA works toward its goal of establishing a permanent outpost on the moon.
Artemis II will follow a similar path as Artemis I but will have astronauts on board.
Artemis III, slated for later this decade, is expected to land a woman and a person of colour on the lunar surface for the first time.
“The rocket, it’s alive, it’s creaking, its making venting noises — it’s pretty scary. So … my heart was pumping. My nerves were going but, yeah, we showed up today. When we walked up the stairs. We were ready to rock and roll,” red crew member Trent Annis said in an interview on NASA TV after the launch.
“Well for once I might be speechless,” said Artemis I launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, the first woman to hold such a role.
“I have talked a lot about appreciating the moment that you’re in,” Blackwell-Thompson said in remarks to the engineers in the firing room. “And we have worked hard as a team. You guys have worked hard as a team to this moment. This is your moment.”