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Richard Luscombe
Two hurricanes, two months and a series of technical fixes as previous launch attempts were thwarted, NASA’s Artemis 1, the most powerful space rocket in history, is finally on its way to the moon after blasting off from Florida early Wednesday.
Read our full report below:
NASA’s Artemis Launch Director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson made this statement shortly after the rocket’s launch:
On behalf of all the men and women in our great nation who worked to put this hardware together to make this day possible, and for the Artemis generation, this is for you.”
This powerful photo shows the unmanned Artemis I lunar rocket lifting off from Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
The unmanned Artemis I lunar rocket lifts off from Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on November 16. Photo: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images
Artemis 1 in Earth orbit
Artemis 1 is now in Earth orbit.
The SLS rocket reached Main Engine Shutdown (MECO) on the mission schedule. The RS-25 engines are shut down and the main stage is separated.
Updated at 07.06 GMT
After just over 7 minutes of flight, Artemis 1 is traveling at over 12,000 miles per hour.
NASA’s SLS rocket and NASA’s Orion fly together for the first time.
Artemis I begins a new chapter in human exploration of the Moon.
We’re already four minutes into the flight.
Artemis 1 is traveling at more than 5,000 miles per hour.
All engines are at maximum thrust.
Updated at 06.55 GMT
Artemis 1 successfully launched
Artemis 1 is now airborne after a delayed liftoff, traveling at more than 2,000 miles per hour.
Solid rocket boosters are now separated.
Updated at 06.53 GMT
We have T-5 minutes left until the start.
Takeoff is now scheduled for 1:47 a.m. ET.
Fixed technical issues with late counting
Ground crews at the Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday filled the main fuel tanks of NASA’s next-generation moon rocket for its debut launch, a launch flight for the US space agency’s Artemis program 50 years after the last Apollo moon mission.
Late in the countdown on Tuesday night, a hydrogen fuel line leak was discovered, prompting NASA managers to send a “red team” of technicians to the launch pad to tighten the loose valve connection. The leak has been fixed, NASA said.
Around the same time, crews monitoring the launch complex tried to replace an Internet connection that malfunctioned, knocking an important radar system offline.
The “red crew” team successfully fixed the leak and it has not recurred. The bad Ethernet switch is being replaced now.
— NASA Ground Exploration Systems (@NASAGroundSys) November 16, 2022
On Tuesday afternoon, launch teams began the long and delicate process of filling the rocket’s core fuel tanks with hundreds of thousands of gallons of supercooled liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen.
About five hours before liftoff, those tanks were filled, achieving a “major milestone” in preparation for launch, a NASA spokesman said. Crews continued to periodically top off the tanks to replenish small amounts of propellant as the liquid gases gradually released as vapor.
NASA launches the New Moon program
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the launch of NASA’s Artemis rocket to the moon.
I’m Samantha Locke and I’ll be bringing you all the latest developments as they unfold over the next few hours.
Artemis 1, the most powerful rocket ship in history, will lift off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 1.04am EST (6.04am GMT) on Wednesday.
The launch is part of NASA’s New Moon program with a test flight of a brand new rocket and capsule.
The test flight aims to send an empty crew capsule into distant lunar orbit, 50 years after NASA’s famous Apollo moon pictures.
For any updates or feedback you’d like to share, feel free to get in touch via email or Twitter.
If you’ve just joined us, here’s what we know so far:
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The Orion capsule is set for a 25-day, 1.3-meter-mile trip to the moon and back.
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There will be no people on board. The “crew” for Artemis 1 includes sensor-equipped dummies called Helga, Zohar, and Moonikin Campos, who will measure radiation levels, and a soft toy Snoopy and Shaun the Sheep as gravity detectors.
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A series of delays over the summer and early fall pushed the launch date back after August and September trials were canceled when engineers discovered an engine cooling problem, then failed to fix an unrelated fuel leak. Hopes for an early October launch were dashed when the threat of Hurricane Ian forced the space agency to move the giant $4.1 billion Space Launch System (SLS) rocket back to the safety of the hangar.
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NASA Administrator Bill Nelson explained the purpose of the Artemis program in an interview with Newsweek earlier this year: “We’re going back to the Moon in 50 years to stay, to study, to work, to create, to develop new technologies and new systems and new spacecraft to go to Mars… This is a huge turning point in history.”
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The Artemis program comes with a price tag of $93 billion, including $4.1 billion for each of the first launches. Analysts say that is unsustainable and note that it is already billions of dollars over budget and years behind schedule.
Updated at 06.44 GMT
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