NASA launches first manned lunar mission in half a century

Four astronauts launched from Florida as part of NASA's Artemis II mission, beginning a ten-day journey around the moon.

This mission represents a key step for the US towards returning humans to the lunar surface ahead of China's planned manned landing.

This represents the most ambitious American space mission in decades and a major step towards returning humans to the lunar surface before China carries out its first manned landing.

NASA mission managers have given the "green light" for the launch of the Artemis II mission, using a massive 98-meter-tall Space Launch System rocket, topped by the Orion space capsule with astronauts, at 00:36 our time.

The launch took place from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, from a ramp located right next to the one from which the last astronauts of the American Apollo program set off for the Moon more than half a century ago, Reuters reports.

The Artemis II mission crew consists of NASA astronauts Christina Koch, Victor Glover and Reed Wiseman, as well as Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, who arrived in Florida from Houston on Friday.

After nearly three years of training, they are the first group to fly as part of NASA's Artemis program, a series of multibillion-dollar missions launched in 2017 with the goal of establishing a long-term American presence on the Moon over the next decade and beyond.

They were quarantined for two weeks before launch, and spent the weekend with their families at a beach house at the Kennedy Space Center, where astronauts rest before going into space.

NASA this morning began filling the SLS core stage with 733.000 gallons of supercooled fuel, which is powered by four RS-25 engines. The pickup truck-sized engines, made by Aerojet Rocketdyne, have powered NASA's Space Shuttle for decades.

Weather conditions appeared favorable for a launch on schedule, with only a 20 percent chance of deteriorating during NASA's two-hour launch window. If weather conditions had worsened and caused a delay, NASA could have tried again as early as Friday, all the way to April 6, after which the next opportunity would not be until April 30.

The launch was originally scheduled for February 6, then March 6, but persistent hydrogen leaks prompted NASA to return the rocket to the assembly building for a detailed check.

The longest journey in history

The Artemis II mission will take the crew on a complex, nearly ten-day journey around the Moon and back, taking them some 406.000 kilometers into space - farther than humans have ever traveled.

The current record for the farthest spaceflight, at around 399.117 kilometers, is held by the three-man crew of the 1970 Apollo 13 lunar mission, which was hit by technical problems after an oxygen tank exploded, preventing it from landing on the Moon as planned.

Humans have not left Earth's orbit since the last Apollo mission in 1972.

NASA launched its first uncrewed Artemis mission in 2022, sending the gummy candy-shaped Orion capsule on a similar trajectory around the Moon and back.

Artemis II will be a major test for Orion and the SLS rocket. Astronauts will test key life support systems, crew interfaces, and communications during the flight. They will also take manual control of Orion in space about three hours after launch to test its guidance and maneuverability, which is crucial in case the automatic systems fail.

Lockheed Martin manufactures Orion, while Boeing and Northrop Grumman have led the development of SLS since 2010, a program known in part for its soaring costs, estimated at between $2 billion and $4 billion per launch.

Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin are racing to develop landing craft that NASA will use to land astronauts on the surface of the moon.

The Artemis II mission is a key early step in NASA's multibillion-dollar Artemis program, which envisions long-term settlement of the Moon's south pole. NASA is pushing hard to land its first crew of astronauts there as part of the Artemis IV mission by 2028, ahead of China's 2030 deadline.

The Artemis III mission was planned as NASA's first landing of astronauts on the Moon, but new NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman added another test mission before the actual landing in February.