I was beginning to wonder if the USA's huge venture into space flight again would ever get off the ground. It happened and we are on the way to Moon missions.
16 November 2022
By Alexandra Witze
NASA’s huge new rocket (click here) blasted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 1.47 a.m. Eastern time today, achieving a major milestone in the agency’s plans to send astronauts back to the Moon.
“We rise together, back to the Moon and beyond,” said NASA launch commentator Derrol Nail as the mighty rocket thundered into the night skies above Cape Canaveral.
The launch put an uncrewed astronaut capsule, called Orion, into Earth orbit and towards a planned course to fly past the Moon and back over the next 26 days. The flight, known as Artemis I, will test whether the rocket and capsule will be able to transport humans safely, while carrying a number of scientific experiments.
This is the first time in half a century that NASA has flown a rocket powerful enough to send humans beyond low Earth orbit.
The flight was delayed after two attempts in late August and early September, which were cut short owing to hardware problems, including leaks of liquid hydrogen fuel. NASA then passed on a launch opportunity in late September because of an approaching hurricane, before putting it back on the launch pad, where it experienced high winds and rain from a different storm last week. NASA managers say that storm caused only minor damage to the rocket, including peeling off a strip of caulking that they say will not endanger the launch....
Don't try to understand all the jargon, just sit back and watch.
