The historic Artemis I mission took off in the early hours of this Wednesday morning (16), after months of waiting. The imposing 98-metre-high space launch system ignited its engines at 3:47 am (Brasília time).
The landmark event kicked off a journey that will send an unmanned spacecraft around the moon, paving the way for NASA to return astronauts to the lunar surface for the first time in half a century.
On top of the rocket is the Orion spacecraft, a gum-shaped capsule that broke away from the rocket after reaching space. Orion was designed to carry humans, but its passengers for this test mission are of the inanimate variety, including some mannequins that collect vital data to help future living crews.
Orion is now flying in orbit with just one big engine. That engine will emit two powerful flares over the next few hours to put the spacecraft on the correct trajectory towards the moon. Then, about two hours after liftoff, the rocket’s engine will also shut down, and Orion will be left to fly freely for the remainder of its journey.
The capsule is expected to travel about two million kilometers, following a path that will take it farther than any other spacecraft designed for human flight has ever traveled, according to NASA. After orbiting the moon, Orion will make its return trip, completing its journey in about 2500 days.
The capsule is scheduled to drop into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego on Dec. 11, when rescuers will be waiting nearby to tow it to safety. Throughout the mission, NASA engineers will be keeping an eye on the spacecraft’s performance. The team will assess whether Orion performs as intended and is ready to support its first manned mission to lunar orbit, currently scheduled for 2024.
This mission also marks the debut flight of the SLS rocket as the most powerful ever to reach Earth orbit, with 15% more thrust than the Saturn V rocket that powered NASA’s moon landings in the 20th century.
And this mission is just the first in a long series of 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 to Artemis I, but will have astronauts on board. Artemis III, due later this decade, is expected to take a woman and a person of color to the lunar surface for the first time.
The mission team encountered a series of setbacks ahead of Wednesday morning’s launch, including technical problems with the moon mega rocket and two hurricanes that passed over the launch site.
Fueling the SLS rocket with supercooled liquid hydrogen proved to be one of the main problems that forced NASA to give up on previous liftoff attempts, but on Tuesday the tanks were filled despite leaking problems that stopped fueling hours before launch.
“On behalf of all the men and women in our great nation who worked to assemble this hardware to make this day possible, and for the Artemis generation, this is for you,” he said. Charlie Blackwell-Thompson director of Artemis launch.
Source: CNN Brasil
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