Artemis Moon Rocket Starts its Historic Journey

Posted: November 17, 2022 2:39 pm

After weeks of delays, the much-anticipated Artemis I mission finally took flight early Wednesday morning. The historic liftoff marked a major milestone for NASA, hoping to return astronauts to the surface of the moon in the year 2024.

About Wednesday’s Launch

The Space Launch System fired up early Wednesday, lighting the rocket engines at 1:47 am ET. The rocket required 9 million pounds of thrust to send it hurtling into the dark sky. The gumdrop-shaped Orion spacecraft broke away from the rocket to continue the journey toward the moon.

While the Orion capsule is engineered to carry humans into space, this particular mission is uncrewed. However, mannequins on board will collect important data that will be used to ensure a safe passage for humans when the time comes.

What is Next for Orion

It took about 8 hours into flight for Orion to see its first outbound trajectory correction burn, an event that will keep the capsule on the correct path through space. This burn is a precursor to the Orion being able to experience its approach of the moon on Monday, November 21. Orion will travel within 60 miles of the surface of the moon during this flyby.

The spacecraft will then enter a distant orbit around the moon on Friday, November 25. The capsule will start its return to Earth after the orbit. The path of the capsule will take it 1.3 million miles, a journey farther than any other spacecraft designed to carry humans has ever traveled. It will take a little over 25 days for all of this to happen with the spacecraft scheduled to splash into the Pacific Ocean near the coast of San Diego on December 11. Recovery teams will be waiting for the capsule to return so that they can bring it back to land.

The NASA team will be carefully watching Orion in the coming days to determine if it is ready to take humans back to space in 2024. Engineers will evaluate a large amount of data and analytics collected by the spacecraft on its mission. NASA is already receiving its first pictures delivered by the expedition.

Looking ahead, NASA’s long-range plans include putting a permanent outpost on the lunar surface. The 2024 Artemis II mission is scheduled to include astronauts on board. The following years will bring the Artemis III mission, hoping to send a woman as well as a person of color to the moon for the first time in history.

Series of Delays

It was not an easy road for the Artemis I mission. The original launch scheduled for August 29 was scrubbed after crews discovered a defective sensor that blocked the effective cooldown of one of the engines. Days later, engineers discovered a problem with a liquid hydrogen leak, pushing back the liftoff again. The mission was then set to take place later in the month, however, the arrival of Hurricane Ian pushed back that date once more as NASA raced to move the spacecraft off of the launch pad and into a hangar to protect it from the Category 4 storm’s damage.

The rocket was returned to the launch pad before another hurricane development delayed the launch again. All of these delays help to explain why crews were especially excited that the mission finally came to fruition on Wednesday.

The excitement in the NASA control room was palpable. Per long-standing NASA tradition, launch operators cut off the ends of their business ties in celebration of the launch.

According to NASA officials, the successful launch of the Artemis I mission marks the first step in a plan to establish a permanent presence on the moon. This mission is also expected to create inroads in the goal to send a crewed spacecraft to Mars in the future.

According to an audit conducted by the NASA Office of the Inspector General, the entirety of the Artemis expedition and its four missions will cost up to $93 million by the time it wraps up in 2025.

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