Artemis Launch: NASA Shoots for the Moon with $4 Billion Mission

The world’s most powerful rocket was launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida after NASA engineers botched two earlier launch attempts.

Artemis watches the unmanned Orion spacecraft orbit Earth’s natural satellite and return to our planet after a journey of 1.3 million miles.

It is a historic launch that signals the first step in the US space agency’s goal of returning humans to the lunar surface for the first time in half a century.

If successful, the mission would be followed by a manned trip around the Moon in 2024 and could be the first woman and first person of colour to follow in Neil Armstrong’s footsteps.

That hurdle has been the many delays facing NASA’s new Mega Moon rocket, with its first launch date pushed back repeatedly since August.

However, after surviving fuel leak concerns, engine issues and the clutches of not one but two storms, the $4 billion (£3.5 billion) Space Launch System (SLS) has finally blasted off into orbit.

The plan is to return human boots to the Moon on Artemis III by 2025 and eventually build a permanent lunar outpost with a view to exploring deeper into the universe.

This will be the first time since 1972 that n will step on the Moon.

Artemis watches an Orion spacecraft orbit Earth’s natural satellite and return to our planet after a journey of 1.3 million miles

After SLS was ravaged by gusts of up to 100 miles per hour as it approached Hurricane Nicole’s force last week, there was concern that this date could slip again following post-hurricane inspections.

Several issues were later found but none that delayed the launch of the mission.

NASA said the storm caused a crack in the engine’s rain cover and water entered the crew access arm, but these were “minor” problems.

The 322-foot (98 m) rocket was damaged when officials decided to leave it on the launch pad instead of returning it to the Vehicle Assembly Building.

There were concerns that the date could slip again after post-storm inspections showed the SLS clocked 100 mph after being exposed to the force of Hurricane Nicole (pictured) last week. Several issues were later found but none that delayed the launch of the mission.

It was thought that the storm would bring sustained winds of about 29 mph (25 knots) and gusts up to 46 mph (40 knots).

However, it actually produced wind speeds of up to 82 mph (71 knots) and gusts of up to 100 mph (87 knots).

Previous launch attempts had been hampered by Storm Ian, a fuel leak issue and engine temperature concerns.

Provided all this is successful, another flight is due in 2024 – this time with astronauts – as part of Nasa’s ambitious $93bn (£63bn) Artemis program a year before humans boot to the lunar surface once again Please please

Here MailOnline answers everything you need to know about the upcoming Artemis I mission, including how you can track the flight live.

How can I follow Artemis?

An online tool is allowing people to monitor the Orion spacecraft as it travels to the Moon and back again during its 25-day journey.

The Artemis Real-Time Orbit website (AROW) provides imagery, data and all the latest news about the launch, and lets space fans track it in real-time.

Data collected by sensors on Orion and sent to the Mission Control Center at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston is used to provide real-time information – such as the distance to Earth and the Moon – about the mission .

NASA also revealed that it will make Orion’s location data freely available to ‘data lovers, artists, and creatives to build their own tracking apps, data visualizations, or whatever else they imagine’.

NASA also revealed that it will make Orion’s location data freely available to ‘data lovers, artists, and creatives to build their own tracking apps, data visualizations, or whatever else they imagine’.

It added that while AROW was developed for upcoming Artemis missions, it could use the same technology to offer visualizations for other space missions in the future.

Britain also has a role in tracking down Artemis I.

The Goonhilly Earth Station in Cornwall will track the uncrewed Orion capsule and provide communications support for the mission.

Gonahili is the only commercial deep space ground station in the world. In 1969 the site was responsible for distributing a live satellite feed of the Apollo Moon landings to people around the world.

Its GHY-6 deep space antenna will receive radio signals from the spacecraft for the duration of its six-week mission.

What is included in the mission?

Named after the twin sister of Apollo in Greek mythology, Artemis symbolizes the modern incarnation of the US space agency’s Apollo program, which sent the first astronauts to the Moon.

At 322 feet (98 metres) – rising 23 storeys above the launch-pad at Cape Canaveral – the rocket is slightly smaller than the Apollo Saturn V that carried astronauts to the Moon in the 1960s and 1970s.

However, its four RS-25 engines (which were used in the Space Shuttle), powered by both solid and liquid fuels, provide more thrust and a higher top speed of 24,500 mph. (The Saturn V rockets only used liquid fuel because the technology had not yet advanced sufficiently for anything else).