April 1 (UPI) — NASA launched its most powerful rocket yet, the Space Launch System, on Wednesday to send the crewed Artemis II mission to the moon, the first in more than five decades.
The mission had liftoff around 6:35 p.m. EDT from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Within minutes of liftoff, Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman told operators on the ground, “we have a beautiful moonrise, we’re headed right at it.”
The four-person crew — which also includes NASA’s Victor Glover and Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency’s Jeremy Hansen — is expected to enter the moon’s orbit in about six days. The spacecraft won’t land on the moon, but will orbit around it before returning to Earth.
The 2-hour launch window for Artemis II began around 6:24 p.m., and most of the pre-flight checks were successfully.
Shortly after the crew members boarded the craft, though, NASA officials had to address a pair of issues.
Derrol Nail, of NASA, said officials fixed a problem with the Space Launch System rocket’s flight termination system.
Later, there was a problem with the battery on the launch abort system on Orion. This system ejects the capsule away from the rocket in case there’s a problem with the rocket during flight. NASA detected issues with temperature readings on the battery but had resolved the issue before schedule launch.
The 10-day trip will be the first crewed flight to the moon in more than 50 years and the farthest distance from Earth traveled by humans.
About 9 minutes after the launch, the Artemis crew entered orbit, traveling about 15,000 mph. During Earth orbit, the crew has a series of tasks to complete before they’re able to make their way to the moon.
The Artemis I mission in 2022 flew around the moon but didn’t have a crew aboard.
