The Artemis 1 mission is going to the moon.
The agency launched Artemis 1 early Wednesday morning.
The capsule needed another push to break free of our planet's gravity and head for the moon despite the SLS' core stage and twin solid rocket boosters getting it to Earth. A long engine burn from the SLS upper stage gave it that push.
The ICPS' single engine kicked on about 87 minutes after the Artemis 1 mission liftoff and burned for 18 minutes, increasing the capsule's speed from 17,500 mph to 22,500 mph.
The trans-lunar injection is done. Just after the burn ended, Jim Free, associate administrator of the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate at NASA headquarters in Washington, said thanks to ICPS.
Related: NASA's Artemis 1 moon mission: Live updates
More: 10 wild facts about the Artemis 1 moon mission
Trans-lunar injection burn complete! @NASA_Orion is on its way to the Moon! Thanks to ICPS, @NASA_SLS's upper stage, for the push to get us on our way.November 16, 2022
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About 115 minutes into the flight, Orion separated from the ICPS. The ICPS will deploy 10 ride-along cubesats over the next couple of hours, while the capsule and its European built service module will make their own way to moon.
The journey will last about six days. The capsule will travel to the moon for about a month before returning to Earth. The heat shield of the spaceship will be tested when it lands in the ocean off the coast of California on December 11th.
The shakeout cruise Artemis 1 is designed to show the readiness of SLS and Orion for astronauts. Artemis 2 will launch a crew around the moon in 2024 and Artemis 3 will put boots down near the moon's south pole a year or two later.
The goal of the Artemis program is to establish a crewed outpost near the lunar south pole and a small moon-orbiting space station.
The lessons learned during the build out of this infrastructure will be used to send astronauts to Mars.
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