CAPE CANAVERAL, Nov 16: A space capsule hurtled toward the moon on Wednesday for the first time in 50 years, following a thunderous launch of NASA’s mightiest rocket in a dress rehearsal for astronaut flights.
No one was on board this debut flight, just three test dummies. The capsule is headed for a wide orbit around the moon and then a return to Earth with a Pacific splashdown in about three weeks.
The Orion capsule was perched on top and, less than two hours into the flight, busted out of Earth’s orbit toward the moon.
An estimated 15,000 people jammed the launch site, with thousands more lining the beaches and roads outside the gates, to witness NASA’s long-awaited sequel to Project Apollo, when 12 astronauts walked on the moon between 1969 and 1972. Crowds also gathered outside NASA centers in Houston and Huntsville (Alabama) to watch the spectacle on giant screens.
The liftoff marked the start of NASA’s Artemis lunar exploration programme, named after Apollo’s mythological twin sister. NASA is aiming to send four astronauts around the moon on the next flight, in 2024, and land humans there as early as 2025.
“For the Artemis generation, this is for you,” launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson called out, referring to all those born after Apollo. She later told her team: “You have earned your place in history.” The 322-foot (98-meter) SLS is the most powerful rocket built by NASA, with more thrust than either the space shuttle or the mighty Saturn V that carried men to the moon.
Orion should reach the moon by Monday, more than 370,000 km from Earth. After coming within 130 km of the moon, the capsule will enter a far-flung orbit stretching about 64,000 km beyond.
The USD 4.1 billion test flight is set to last 25 days, roughly the same as when crews will be aboard. The space agency intends to push the spacecraft to its limits and uncover any problems before astronauts strap in. The test dummies — NASA calls them moonikins — are fitted with sensors to measure such things as vibration, acceleration and cosmic radiation.
Ultimately, NASA hopes to establish a base on the moon and send astronauts to Mars by the late 2030s or early 2040s.
NASA is waiting until this test flight is over before introducing the astronauts who will be on the next one and those who will follow in the bootsteps of Apollo 11’s Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. Apollo 17 crew members Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt were the last men to walk on the moon in December 1972, almost 50 years ago. (AP)
