NASA Resolves Safety Issue, Launches Artemis II Moon Mission
NASA successfully launched the Artemis II mission after resolving a last-minute safety system issue. The four-astronaut crew will travel 252,000 miles from Earth on a nine-and-a-half-day journey around the moon. The mission serves as a test flight for future lunar landing missions planned for 2028.
NASA's Artemis II mission successfully launched four astronauts on a historic journey around the moon after resolving a last-minute safety system issue. The rocket lifted off at 6:35 p.m. EDT from the Kennedy Space Center, sending commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen on a nine-and-a-half-day journey that will take them 252,000 miles from Earth for an unprecedented view of the far side of the moon.
With about two hours to go before the launch window opened, the launch was a "NO-GO" while teams tried to fix a problem with a key safety system. The issue was resolved around 5:15 p.m. EDT, allowing the mission to proceed. NASA commentator Derrol Nail said the flight termination issue had been resolved and the Eastern Range was now GO for launch.
The launch team had been troubleshooting an issue related to the rocket's Flight Termination System, a safety system used to send a self-destruct signal to the rocket in the event it veers off path. NASA had devised a way to verify the system and was preparing to test this solution when the issue was resolved.
Earlier, NASA had also addressed a higher-than-expected temperature reading from a sensor on the launch abort system's attitude control motor controller battery, determining it was believed to be an instrumentation issue that would not affect the launch. The weather forecast improved to 90% go with about 30 minutes remaining before the launch window opened.
Following liftoff, the interim cryogenic propulsion stage fired its main engine for the first time about 50 minutes after liftoff, raising the low point, or perigee, of the orbit to a safe 115 miles. The core stage successfully separated from the Orion spacecraft, marking the end of the first major propulsion phase of the Artemis II mission and the transition to upper-stage operations.
The Orion's four solar array wings deployed as planned, locking into place and beginning to draw power. When fully deployed, the solar arrays give Orion a wingspan of about 63 feet and will provide continuous electrical power for the craft's life-support systems, avionics, communications and onboard operations.
Artemis II is intended as a test flight to check out systems and equipment, laying the groundwork for future missions to land astronauts on the moon in 2028. NASA has moved up its post-launch news conference by one hour to 8 p.m. EDT.