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NASA’s most powerful rocket ever has launched into space in the first step of a mission to return humans to the moon.
The next-generation, multibillion-dollar Space Launch System lifted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida in the early hours of Wednesday morning, with the Orion spacecraft in tow.
It surged off the launch pad at Cape Canaveral at 1.47am local time (6.47am UK), around 40 minutes into a two-hour window after late repairs to a leak and faulty communications equipment.
‘A place in history’ – catch up on the Artemis 1 launch as it happened
The crewless voyage is the inaugural flight of NASA’s Artemis programme, which will eventually take a team of astronauts to the moon for the first time since Apollo 17 in December 1972.
Wednesday morning’s launch for Artemis 1 came after several delays stretching back to the summer, but the stunning images from America’s east coast certainly made it worth the wait.
Launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson told her team: “We are all involved in something incredibly special: the first launch of Artemis. The first step in returning our country to the moon and on to Mars. What you have done today will inspire generations to come.”
What will the launch achieve?
The mega rocket generated 8.8 million pounds of thrust at launch, far greater than any used by NASA before, while its two boosters and four RS-25 engines also produced plenty of power.
“You definitely knew there was some energy being expended over there,” said NASA administrator Bill Nelson, who watched it unfold from the roof of the launch centre.
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