We are going.
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 (@NASA) November 16, 2022
The @NASA_SLS rocket has reached main engine cutoff, or MECO, in the mission timeline. The RS-25 engines have powered off and the core stage has separated. @NASA_Orion is now in orbit. pic.twitter.com/OlnxhFAlET
— NASA (@NASA) November 16, 2022
NASA took a significant step toward returning astronauts to the lunar surface early Wednesday, launching its massive Space Launch System rocket and lofting the first spacecraft designed for to fly humans to the moon since the Apollo era.
Lifting off from the Kennedy Space Center at 1:47 a.m. Eastern time, the rocket thundered through the sky above the Florida Space Coast, as hordes of onlookers cheered an ambitious mission the agency hopes will become a new chapter in the history of human exploration.
“It’s a great day,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said after the launch.
The flight marked the first launch of the SLS rocket, a towering 322-foot tall beast in development for a decade, and propelled a capsule, known as Orion, through the atmosphere toward the moon as part of its Artemis program. Because the mission is a test flight — a rehearsal for future missions — no astronauts were onboard, and the spacecraft won’t land on the moon. Rather, Orion is to stay in lunar orbit in a flight that is expected to last up to 25 and-a-half days and demonstrate, NASA hopes, that the rocket and spacecraft are capable of flying safely…
While a lunar landing may still be years away, the successful launch of Artemis I marked a significant milestone for the space agency. NASA has not sent an astronaut beyond low Earth orbit since the last of the Apollo missions, in 1972, when astronaut Eugene Cernan vowed “we shall return” in a short speech before he climbed back into the lunar module for the return trip to Earth…
Follow Orion’s flight to the moon and back
NASA has built a website that will allow people to follow the journey of the Orion spacecraft as it flies from Earth to the moon and back again. The website will “provide real-time data beginning about one minute after liftoff” and chronicle its flight for the days to come, as it flies some 40,000 miles past the moon.The website can be found here. For more information, NASA urges people to also follow the @NASA_Orion Twitter account.
Wednesday Morning Open Thread: <em>Ad Astra!</em>Post + Comments (201)
