The moon capture follows nearly three months of troublesome fuel leaks that kept the rocket bouncing between its hangar and pad.
NASA’s New Moon rocket blasted off on its maiden flight with three test dummies on board, bringing the United States one step closer to putting astronauts back on the lunar surface for the first time since the end of the Apollo program 50 years ago.
If all goes well during the three-week flight, the 32-story-tall rocket will propel an empty crew capsule into a wide orbit around the moon, then the capsule will return to Earth with a splash at the earth. the Pacific in December.
The launch marked the start of the space agency’s new flagship program, Artemis. “Let’s go,” the space agency tweeted early Wednesday.
After years of delays and billions in cost overruns, the Space Launch System rocket thundered skyward, lifting from Kennedy Space Center 4 million kilograms (about 8.8 million pounds) of thrust and arriving to 160 kilometers per hour (100 mph) in a matter of seconds.
The Orion capsule was perched on top, ready to leave Earth orbit for the Moon two hours into the flight.
The moon capture follows nearly three months of troublesome fuel leaks that kept the rocket bouncing between its hangar and pad. The US space agency managed to plug a leak on Tuesday night as it fueled the rocket for a midnight launch.
NASA expected 15,000 people to jam the Kennedy Space Center for the launch, with thousands more lining the beaches and roads outside the gates.
‘Excited to see him go’
Andrew Trombley, a space enthusiast from St Louis, Missouri, was anxiously awaiting a successful liftoff after several futile trips to the launch.
“I’ve been here a couple of times already to watch this thing go up and get canceled, so this is like the third trip here for this, so I’m excited to see it.” said the engineer. “It was too small for the Apollo missions, so…I wanted to be here in person.”
The debut of the Space Launch System rocket, known as SLS, had three test dummies but no astronauts inside the crew capsule on top.
NASA’s top priority for the $4.1 billion mission is to verify the capsule’s heat shield during reentry, so four astronauts can dock for the next moon landing in 2024. That would be followed by of a two-person lunar landing in 2025.
NASA last sent astronauts to the Moon in December 1972, ending the Apollo program. This time it hopes to build a sustained presence, including a lunar space station, to help prepare for an eventual mission to Mars.