NASA’s Space Launch System Rocket Launches Orion Spacecraft Is on Its Way to the Moon Following a successful launch of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS), the most powerful rocket ever constructed in the world, the agency’s Orion spacecraft is on its way to the Moon as part of the Artemis program. Ca
, SLS lifted off for its flight test debut at 1:47 a.m. EST on Wednesday from Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
During this flight, the spacecraft will launch on the most powerful rocket in the world and fly farther than any spacecraft built for humans has ever flown. It will travel 280,000 miles from Earth, thousands of miles beyond the Moon over the course of about a three-week mission. Orion will stay in space longer than any ship for astronauts has done without docking to a space station and return home faster and hotter than ever before.
After reaching its initial orbit, Orion deployed its solar arrays and engineers began performing checkouts of the spacecraft’s systems. About 1.5 hours into the flight, the rocket’s upper stage engine successfully fired for approximately 18 minutes to give Orion the big push needed to send it out of Earth orbit and toward the Moon.
“It’s taken a lot to get here, but Orion is now on its way to the Moon,” said Jim Free, NASA deputy associate administrator for the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate. “This successful launch means NASA and our partners are on a path to explore farther in space than ever before for the benefit of humanity.”
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