Artemis II lifts off: four astronauts begin 10-day lunar mission
Nasa launched Artemis II on a historic crewed mission to the moon.
The 10-day test flight, which will not land on the moon, is a mission packed with milestones. The mission includes the first woman and first person of color to fly into cislunar space, the area between Earth’s orbit and the moon.
Artemis II’s Orion space capsule could fly them farther from Earth than any human being before them.
Key events
Here’s a look at some of the earthlings who gathered in Cape Canaveral to watch the Artemis II crew begin their historic lunar commute on this Florida evening.
Premium viewing spots for tonight’s spectacular launch filled up fast.
Officials in Florida’s space coast cities, including Cape Canaveral, Titusville, and Cocoa Beach, said they were expecting up to 400,000 spectators to fill beaches and causeways.
As early as first light, shortly before 7am on Wednesday, dozens of cars were already parked along the waterfront in Titusville, which bills itself as “the gateway to space and nature”.
The city has a direct view across the Indian river to launchpad 39B, and the crowds there are a reminder of the Apollo era of the 1960s and 70s when millions packed in to watch the first moon missions.
“There’s three entry ways to the Kennedy Space Center and two of them go through the city,” Andrew Connors, the mayor of Titusville, told me in an interview last week.
An influx of hundreds of thousands for Artemis II will bring a welcome financial windfall, but Connors is also a little apprehensive.
“It’s pretty crazy to think about it because we’re a city of 51,000,” he said.
“All the bridges fill up really quickly and I’m sure the main route through will be a parking lot, but our police have been doing this a lot of times. It’s something really special.”
Read more from the Titusville mayor, and other space coast figures, here:
With Orion now orbiting Earth, a little more than half an hour into flight after a spectacular and flawless lift-off from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center, mission managers on the ground are assessing data.
Flight controllers in Houston have confirmed that all four solar arrays were deployed successfully.
Nasa leaders, no doubt beaming with pride, will conduct a post-launch press conference scheduled for 9pm ET. Our blog will have closed by then, but the Guardian will continue to bring you news as the rest of the 10-day Artemis II mission unfolds.
Jared Isaacman, the Nasa administrator, spoke about the Artemis II launch on Nasa TV.
“It’s the opening act, the test mission,” for the Orion spacecraft, he said.
“No humans have ever flown on this. We’re putting it through its paces to make sure it’s OK. It’s going to set up subsequent missions [and] a golden age of science and discovery.”
Isaacman, a billionaire private astronaut and Donald Trump’s pick to lead the agency, who was confirmed earlier this year, was asked what his favorite moment of the mission would be.
“After ignition, the moment I’m most excited for is splashdown,” he said.
“The takeaway is gaining extra comfort in the Orion spacecraft. It’s new territory for us. SLS plus Orion is everything. On this one we want to make sure we do this in as safe a way as we can.”
Inside the Orion capsule, astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen have raised their visors and are immediately commencing tasks to assess how the spacecraft handled the 17,500mph ascent to orbit.
Deployment of the solar array wings, which will provide Orion with continuous electrical power throughout its lunar journey, is about to begin.
Artemis II enters Earth’s orbit
Artemis II is now in Earth’s orbit. The two solid rocket boosters of the Space Launch System have separated and are floating back down to the Atlantic for recovery.
The spacecraft will orbit Earth until flight day two (Thursday) when the translunar injection burn will take place and sent it on the rest of its 240,000-mile journey to the moon.
What a thrill. Artemis II’s successful launch looked incredibly cool.
Artemis II lifts off: four astronauts begin 10-day lunar mission
Nasa launched Artemis II on a historic crewed mission to the moon.
The 10-day test flight, which will not land on the moon, is a mission packed with milestones. The mission includes the first woman and first person of color to fly into cislunar space, the area between Earth’s orbit and the moon.
Artemis II’s Orion space capsule could fly them farther from Earth than any human being before them.
Go for launch! New time 6.35pm ET
Polling of mission managers has concluded, officially known as the launch readiness check.
The verdict is “launch teams are ready to proceed at this time”.
Now it’s the final poll conducted by launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson. Things are good.
She said:
Reid, Victor, Christina and Jeremy, on this historic mission you take the heart of this Artemis team, the daring spirit of of the American people and our partners across the globe, and the hopes and dreams of a new generation.
Good luck, God speed Artemis II. Let’s go.
The countdown clock has resumed, lift-off in 10 minutes, at 6.35pm ET (11.35pm BST)
Launch delay!
Mission managers have announced they are working a few issues that will delay tonight’s Artemis II launch from its original 6.24pm ET time.
Launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson says the recommendation is still to launch at some point, but we don’t yet know what new time might be provided.
Final polls of launch and ground teams are about to take place to see if tonight’s launch will happen or not. Stand by…
Battery issue ‘won’t affect launch’
A welcome battery update from Nasa’s Artemis II blog:
Engineers investigated a sensor on the launch abort system’s attitude control motor controller battery that showed a higher temperature than would be expected. It is believed to be an instrumentation issue and will not affect today’s launch.
We are back on. Again.
