NASA has successfully launched its sls rocket next-generation spacecraft and the Orion spacecraft on a test flight to the moon, ushering in a new era of space exploration.
With 8.8 million pounds of thrust at launch, the world’s most powerful operational rocket lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 1:47 am ET on Wednesday, November 16, on its maiden flight.
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 Artemis I mission involves the 98-meter-tall SLS rocket sending the uncrewed Orion capsule on a flyby of the moon that will take it to just 62 miles from its surface and 40,000 miles beyond its far side, farther into the space than any human-qualified spacecraft has gone. The mission, which is testing technologies for upcoming crewed lunar missions, will end with Orion’s splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the California coast on December 11.
You can follow the progress of the spaceship in the Artemis Real-time Orbit (AROW) website from NASA. The site shares data that allows it to pinpoint Orion’s precise location, as well as its distance from Earth and the Moon.
NASA officials will be relieved to see the SLS rocket finally head for the sky after a series of recent launch delays caused by technical issues and extreme weather systems.
A successful Artemis I mission will pave the way for Artemis II, which will take the same route around the moon, but this time with astronauts riding in the Orion capsule.
Following that, the highly anticipated Artemis III mission will strive to put the first woman and first person of color on the lunar surface, in what will also be the first astronaut landing since the last Apollo mission in 1972.
Looking to the 2030s and beyond, NASA and its international partners plan to build a permanent lunar base on the lunar surface for long-term astronaut visits, with the outpost potentially acting as a springboard for the first manned visit to Mars. .
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