The NASA successfully launched the Artemis II mission this Wednesday from launch pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, marking the first human journey to the Moon in more than half a century.
The Space Launch System (SLS) rocket lifted off at 6:35 PM local time with four astronauts aboard the Orion capsule, marking humanity's return to the vicinity of the natural satellite since the Apollo program, whose last crewed mission was in December 1972.
The crew consists of Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, and Specialist Christina Koch, all from NASA, along with Specialist Jeremy Hansen from the Canadian Space Agency.
The launch occurred with a slight delay from the initially scheduled time due to a pause in the countdown to check a temperature sensor in the battery of the launch abort system, an issue that was resolved before liftoff.
The SLS generated nearly four million kilograms of thrust when its engines ignited, becoming the most powerful rocket to have taken humans into space in the entire history of space exploration.
The mission lasts for 10 days and its goal is not to land on the Moon, but to orbit it and photograph its far side, validating the systems of the Orion spacecraft during its first flight with a human crew.
The trajectory will take the astronauts approximately 7,600 kilometers beyond the far side of the Moon, which could break the record for distance from Earth set by the Apollo program.
The mission accumulates several historical milestones: Glover becomes the first black person to travel to the vicinity of the Moon; Koch is the first woman on a crewed lunar mission; and Hansen is the first Canadian to fly to the Moon.
Before the launch, Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, the first launch director of NASA, addressed the crew with these words: "Reid, Victor, Christina, and Jeremy, on this historic mission you carry with you the heart of this Artemis team, the bold spirit of the American people and our partners around the world, and the hopes and dreams of a new generation. Good luck, safe travels, Artemis II. Let’s go."
The president Donald Trump congratulated the astronauts on his social network Truth Social: "God bless our amazing astronauts! We are winning in space, on Earth, and everything in between [...] and the whole world is watching."
After liftoff, the astronauts will spend approximately 24 hours orbiting the Earth while testing the systems of the Orion spacecraft; on the second day, the capsule will set off toward the Moon.
Artemis I, an uncrewed mission launched in November 2022, paved the way for this journey, and Artemis II sets the stage for Artemis III, which is planned to achieve the program's first lunar landing in 2027.
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