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WATCH: Artemis 1 blasts off to the Moon
The Nasa mission team began fueling the rocket on Tuesday, ahead of another launch attempt.
Photo: NASA
Nasa’s beleaguered Artemis 1 moon mission is officially one small step closer to reality with the launch of its most powerful rocket ever.
The Nasa mission team began fueling the rocket Tuesday afternoon at Kennedy Space Center in Florida before the tangerine Space Launch System finally flared to life, lifting off from Launch Complex 39B at Kennedy Space Center early on Wednesday morning.
Engineers and scientists at NASA mission control embraced as the SLS rocket, with the Orion crew capsule at its crown, passed critical checkpoints, discarded its massive core stage just minutes into the flight and sent its snow-white spire off on an epic cosmic journey.
Countdown begins
This is the third time the space agency is trying to begin its campaign to send astronauts back to the moon.
Artemis I did not get off the ground in August or September after technical hiccups, while Hurricanes Ian and Nicole caused further delays.
If the mission launches on Wednesday, the Space Launch System rocket and the Orion capsule will have no crew aboard.
Orbit
After reaching orbit, the spacecraft is expected to embark on a journey around the Moon, traveling roughly 2 million kilometers over the course of about 25 and a half days.
Orion will then splash down in the Pacific Ocean on 11 December off the coast of San Diego, where recovery teams will be waiting nearby to haul it to safety.
Nasa requested back-up launch opportunities for Wednesday at 1:04am and Saturday, 19 November at 1:45am, which are both two-hour launch windows.
Moon mission
Artemis I will test Nasas’s new heavy-lift rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS), the biggest rocket ever built.
It will also be proving-out the Orion spacecraft for crewed flights to the Moon for an eventual voyage to Mars.
Twelve men walked on the Moon between 1969 and 1972, and one of the goals of Artemis is to put the first woman and person of colour on the lunar surface.
The name Artemis was chosen to echo that of the Apollo programme.
Proudly South African
The Artemis lunar mission also brings back memories of South African manufacturer Pratley Putty’s unique role in US space programme.
During the 1960s, Pratley invented the world’s first epoxy putty.
An agreement to manufacture the product under licence in the United States was concluded with a US manufacturer, which introduced the product to Nasa.
However, the product was not yet ready for production in the United States.
Subsequently when it was decided to use it on the Ranger programme, it was supplied directly from Pratley’s head office in South Africa, and Pratley Putty achieved recognition as the only South African manufactured product to ever go to the Moon.
The South African Mint celebrated the 50th anniversary of the first Moon, landing in 2019 with its ‘South African inventions’ series, focusing on the ‘proudly South African’ Pratley Putty.
In October 2019, Pratley Putty was also featured as part of a ‘Destination Moon’ exhibition at the Sci-Bono Discovery Centre in the historic Electric Workshop in the cultural precinct of Newtown, Johannesburg.
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