Mega Moon rocket launches
The US relives its lunar conquest
FLORIDA, United States (AFP) — The National Aeronautics and Space Administration launched the most powerful rocket ever built on a journey to the Moon on Wednesday, in a spectacular blaze of light and sound that marked the start of the space agency’s new flagship program, Artemis.
The 32-story tall Space Launch System blasted off from the storied Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 01:47 a.m.
“We are going,” tweeted the space agency.
Fixed to its top was the uncrewed Orion spaceship that will later separate and complete an orbit-and-a-half of Earth’s nearest neighbor, in a test run for later flights that should see the first woman and first person of color touch down on lunar soil by the mid-2020s.
America last sent astronauts to the Moon during the Apollo era, from 1969 to 1972. This time it hopes to build a sustained presence — including a lunar space station — to help prepare for an eventual mission to Mars.
The launch came despite technical issues that ate into the two-hour launch window that opened at 1:04 am.
Engineers were forced to pause the flow of liquid hydrogen into the core stage Tuesday night because of a valve leak, though a team sent to the launch pad resolved the problem after an hour.
Later, the space agency reported that a radar site monitoring the rocket’s flight path was experiencing problems due to a faulty ethernet switch that had to be replaced.