The rocket thundered into the sky in the middle of the night, sending a column of fire and shudders through the ground. It was bound for the moon with an uncrewed space capsule. At least in spaceflight, the U.S. remains exceptional, with capabilities, ambitions and achievements as yet unparalleled.
The launch should have been a huge success. It was. It was the culmination of a long campaign to get a rocket off the ground.
Thousands of visitors jammed the roads near Kennedy Space Center, many vying for coveted shoreline spots to witness the launch of NASA's Artemis I mission, the first flight of the agency's massive new Space Launch For some of the spectators, it was their third trip to see this rocket launch from Florida's "Space Coast", where Apollo astronauts last launched to the moon a half-century ago. The NASA leaders, the blue flight suit-clad representatives of the agency's astronauts corps, and hundreds of space reporters were all present.
The launch director told her team after the launch that she might be speechless. Generations will be inspired by what you have done.
Since NASA's first two launch attempts, both of which were scrubbed because of difficulty filling the huge SLS fuel tanks, nearly three months have passed. The rocket was sent back to the safety of the VAB in late September due to dangerous forecasts. Hurricane Nicole blew through before NASA was able to return the rocket to the VAB.
Jim Free, associate administrator for exploration systems development, said that NASA would not have wanted to stay out there. The VAB is the best place to put the vehicle. We couldn't return to the VAB to be safe. We decided to stay where we were.
Is it safe to launch a $4.1 billion rocket and spacecraft that have just weathered a category 1 storm?
The decision was made to go ahead with the launch. The Artemis I mission will be the first step towards returning humans to the moon.
Jordan Bimm of the University of Chicago says that this is a big moment of truth for NASA. Is NASA still up to the task when it comes to spaceflight? 11 years have passed since NASA last launched a human-rated vehicle, and this is a completely new system that is still in development.
NASA officials have said that there are several off- ramps that can be used. If the capsule splashes down in the Pacific Ocean after 25.5-day journey, the stage is set for Artemis II, which could carry a four-person crew to the moon. As the Artemis program unfolds, the SLS and Orion could possibly put the first woman and person of color on the moon and establish a crewed lunar outpost.
The rationale behind the program, which is estimated to eat more than $90 billion of taxpayer money, is not clear. Experts are wondering if we are returning humans to the moon. Is it for the sake of scientific research? Is it for the sake of patriotism? Is it possible to satisfy a human longing for new things? How many times have we tried to get these missions off the ground?
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It is wonderful and noble to follow the principles of science and exploration. He said that the Artemis program reminded him of British explorer George Mallory who said he climbed Mount Everest because it was there. Which was a non answer.
The program's pragmatic purpose is to secure the U.S.'s preeminence in spaceflight, although some of that seems to have been lost in the process. Goals are not destinations for me. She says that the goals are what the nation wants to achieve. The U.S. has a great leadership position in space, but we should focus on widening that lead instead of repeating things from the past.
Even before the first two scrubs, and the unfortunately timed hurricanes, the stakes were already sky high for today's launch, with more than $23 billion of SLS development costs to date. The SLS isn't just any rocket, it's a delicately controlled bomb with all of the risks. In the future, it could be possible to haul in over 100,000 pounds of crew and cargo to the moon. As it slips Earth's gravity, it already produces 8.8 million pounds of thrust, making it the most powerful object on Earth. A multi-billion dollar spaceship is on top of that beast.
The main abort motor of the rocket can hurl the capsule away from the malfunctioning booster if there is a launch malfunction.
The launch abort system is designed to pull the crew capsule away from the launch pad if there is an emergency. We are trying to outrun an SLS that may be having an issue.
A former NASA and military pilot who flew space shuttle missions and commanded the first crewed mission of the Dragon capsule told Scientific American that having an abort system is a relief.
If the day turns bad, you still have a chance to get back to your family. It's something we didn't have in shuttle It is an incredible piece of mind to have.
The main abort motor is inactive because no humans are on board. The SLS has already done its job. After liftoff, the rocket was able to survive a period of maximum dynamic pressure in the atmosphere and deliver it to Earth. The crew capsule and the upper stage of the rocket were left to continue their journey after the rocket's core stage detached.
About an hour and a half after the launch, the next big challenge began. A long engine burn called translunar injection is needed to reach the moon. The speed needed to cling to the moon was increased from 17,500 miles an hour to 22,000 miles an hour after 18 minutes of engine firing.
The moon could have been missed if the burn had gone wrong. On this test flight, NASA officials were so determined to perform the crucial TLI that they were determined to go for it unless the maneuver was guaranteed to result in a loss of the spaceship. In the interest of crew safety, Artemis I's mission manager at NASA said during a late summer prelaunch briefing that they would be "go' on this flight for conditions that we would normally be 'no-go' for on a crewed flight." We are going to press ahead and press uphill unless we are almost certain we are going to lose the vehicle.
After being separated from the ICPS, he sailed on to the moon alone. The spaceship will use its own power for the rest of the mission.
There are certain cases that could cause us to come home early. That is alright. There are contingency plans in place for us. He said that the main objective of the test flight was to get a test of the new heat shield.
New possibilities for humankind's off-world future will be created if Orion returns to Earth. The next flight will be unstoppable ifSLS andOrion work perfectly on the test flight. We are moving forward.
The Artemis II flight would be similar to the Apollo 8 mission, in which three astronauts were sent to the moon. Artemis II would be followed by an even more complex and historic mission, Artemis III, which would return humans to the moon for the first time in 42 years.
It's not clear why NASA is pressing more boot prints into moondust. The driving motive behind Artemis is not as clear as the Apollo missions, which had a clear and urgent political goal of demonstrating American technological mastery during the cold war. Even if everything goes smoothly, the entire Artemis program could be cut, handed over to private companies or transformed in some other way.
The Apollo missions were meant to influence the political trajectory of independent nations during the cold war, according to a space historian. She says that the idea for Artemis is not to change how the world thinks about the U.S.
As far as the lunar surface goes, a space race with China seems to be a convenient excuse. Garver says that they've been to the moon. She notes that the 13th person to walk on the moon would be the first Artemis astronauts.
The director of human and robotic space exploration for the European Space Agency believes that visions of a thriving lunar outpost are a natural outgrowth of humankinds tendency to push the boundaries of where we can live and work. He says that we have seen the same thing with development in theAntarctic.
Robert Scott and Roald Amundsen went to the South Pole in 1911, but nobody bothered to go to the Antarctic for 50 years. He told Scientific American that there are research stations there. Expanding the places that people live and work is what it is about.
Even without a strong sense of purpose, the SLS is supported by both Democrats and Republicans. The transition between presidential administrations is a perilous time when problematic federal projects are typically culled. Even though it has become something of a boondoggle for the space agency, it is still alive and well.
There are lessons to be learned from the response to other late and over budget projects in NASA's portfolio.
I don't know how you don't get excited about Artemis, to be honest with you, when you look back at the experience with Apollo, the experience even with JWST in the past few months, and how that has brought together humanity around the globe with the excitement of learning
Contractors delivered the JWST years late and over budget. It had to survive a risky deployment phase in which any single point of failure could have been disastrous. It did work in the end. No one is complaining about the large price tag of the telescope as it shows the universe in a new light. Astronomers are thinking up new questions.
Dumbacher thinks that the Artemis missions will help us build a sustainable capability on the moon and then go to Mars. New economic opportunities for generations to come are going to be opened up by it.
It's possible that will be the case. To peer as far back in time as possible, to see the universe as it was when the first stars and galaxies emerged from the primordial gloom and to connect the dots between those infant structures. One way to do that was to build a giant telescope, an instrument so large that it would have to be put into a rocket and flown into space.
They don't check the same boxes. The lunar-return program lacks clear motives, aside from political posturing and providing a concrete destination for its hardware to reach, and it was designed not for voyaging to the moon or Mars but for more practical purposes. Although the SLS is supposed to lead the way to NASA's bright future, they risk relegating the space agency to the past. Humans can be put in deep space that is cheaper and more efficient. If Artemis succeeds in returning humans to the moon, the program's critics will be as silent as those who protested the cancellation.
Dumbacher says we owe it to the next generation to push forward and learn.
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