Named for the ancient Greek goddess of the hunt - and Apollo's twin sister - Artemis aims to return astronauts to the moon's surface as early as 2025. The three-week Artemis I mission marks the first flight of the combined SLS rocket and the Orion capsule together, built by Boeing Co and Lockheed Martin Corp, respectively, under contract with NASA.Īfter decades with NASA focused on low-Earth orbit with space shuttles and the International Space Station (see graphic), it also signals a major change in direction for the agency's post-Apollo human spaceflight program. Quick work on the launch pad by a special team of technicians, who tightened down a loose connection well inside the 'blast zone' demarcated around a nearly fully fueled rocket, was credited with saving the launch. Liftoff came on the third attempt at launching the multibillion-dollar rocket, after 10 weeks beset by technical mishaps, back-to-back hurricanes and two excursions trundling the spacecraft out of its hangar to the launch pad.Ībout four hours before Wednesday's blastoff, crews had to deal with a flurry of simultaneous issues, including a leaky fuel valve. EST (0647 GMT), piercing the blackness over Cape Canaveral with a reddish-orange tail of fire.Ībout 90 minutes after launch, the rocket's upper stage successfully thrust the Orion capsule out of Earth orbit and on its trajectory to the moon, NASA announced. The 32-story-tall Space Launch System (SLS) rocket lifted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center at 1:47 a.m.

The much-delayed launch kicked off Apollo's successor program, Artemis, aimed at returning astronauts to the lunar surface this decade and establishing a sustainable base there as a stepping stone to future human exploration of Mars.

Rocketship launchpad