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Here are some more snapshots from the launch as Artemis begins its 25-day mission.
NASA’s Artemis 1 mission is a 25-and-a-half-day journey to the far side of the Moon and back. Photo: Gregg Newton/AFP/Getty ImagesA temporary exhibit shows the path of the Artemis I rocket as it lifted off from the launch pad. Photo: Gregg Newton/AFP/Getty Images Spectators watch as Artemis I lifts off from Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Photograph: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images The Artemis I should provide valuable scientific data. Photograph: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images
Richard Luscombe
Two hurricanes, two months and a series of technical fixes since 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 take off from Florida early Wednesday.
Read our full report below:
NASA Artemis Launch Director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson made this statement shortly after the rocket’s launch:
On behalf of all the men and women of our great nation who have worked to assemble this hardware to make this day possible, and for the Artemis generation, this is for you.
This powerful image shows the Artemis I unmanned lunar rocket lifting off from Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, early Wednesday morning.
The Artemis I unmanned lunar rocket lifts off from Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on November 16. Photograph: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images
Artemis 1 in Earth orbit
Artemis 1 is now in Earth orbit.
The SLS rocket has reached Main Engine Shutdown (MECO) on the mission timeline. The RS-25 engines have been shut down and the center stage separated.
Updated at 07.06 GMT
With just over 7 minutes of flight time, Artemis 1 is traveling at over 12,000 miles per hour.
For the first time, the Nasa SLS rocket and Nasa Orion fly together.
Artemis I begins a new chapter in human lunar exploration.
We are four minutes from the flight.
Artemis 1 is traveling at more than 5,000 miles per hour.
All engines have maximum thrust.
Updated at 0655 GMT
Artemis 1 has a successful launch
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 0653 GMT
We are T-5 minutes away from launch.
Liftoff is now scheduled for 1:47 am ET.
Fixed technical glitches in the late countdown
Ground crews at Kennedy Space Center filled the main fuel tanks of NASA’s next-generation moon rocket on Tuesday for its maiden launch, a flight to kick off the US space agency’s Artemis program 50 years after the ‘last lunar mission Apollo.
Late in the countdown on Tuesday night, a hydrogen fuel line leak was detected, prompting NASA managers to send a “red team” of technicians to the launch pad to tighten a loose valve connection. The leak was fixed, NASA said.
Around the same time, crews overseeing the launch complex scrambled to replace a malfunctioning Internet connection, knocking a crucial radar system offline.
The ‘red crew’ team has successfully fixed the leak and it hasn’t happened again. Now replacing the bad ethernet switch.
— NASA Exploration Ground Systems (@NASAGroundSys) November 16, 2022
On Tuesday afternoon, launch teams began the long and delicate process of loading the rocket’s middle stage fuel tanks with hundreds of thousands of gallons of supercooled liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen propellant.
About five hours before liftoff, those tanks were filled, achieving a “significant milestone” in launch preparations, a NASA spokesman said. Crews continued to refill the tanks periodically to replenish small amounts of propellant as the liquid gases gradually faded away as vapor.
NASA begins new moon program
Hello and welcome to The Guardian’s live coverage of NASA’s Artemis Moon launch.
My name is Samantha Lock and I’ll be bringing you all the latest news as it unfolds over the next few hours.
Artemis 1, the most powerful rocket ever, 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 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 shots.
For any updates or comments you’d like to share, feel free to get in touch via email or Twitter.
If you’re just joining us, here’s what we know so far:
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The Orion capsule is set for a 25-day, 1.3m-mile trip to the moon and back.
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There will be no humans on board. The Artemis 1 “crew” includes sensor-equipped mannequins named Helga, Zohar and Moonikin Campos, who will measure radiation levels, and a stuffed Snoopy and Shaun the Sheep as gravity detectors.
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A series of delays over the summer and early fall held up the launch date after attempts in August and September were scrapped when engineers discovered an engine cooling problem, then failed to fix a leak of unrelated fuel. Hopes for an early October launch were dashed when the threat of Hurricane Ian forced the space agency to return the giant $4.1 billion Space Launch System (SLS) rocket to the hangar security.
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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 after 50 years, to stay, to learn, to work, to to create, to develop new technologies and new systems and new spacecraft to go to Mars… This is a great turn 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 this is unsustainable and point out that it is already billions of dollars over budget and years behind schedule.
Updated at 06.44 GMT