The National Aeronautics and Space Administration launched the most powerful rocket ever built on a journey to the Moon on Wednesday, in a spectacular blaze of light and sound that marked the start of the space agency’s new flagship programme, Artemis.
The 32-storey tall Space Launch System blasted off from the storied Kennedy Space Centre in Florida at 01:47 am (0647 GMT).
“We are going,” tweeted the space agency.
Fixed to its top was the uncrewed Orion spaceship that would later separate and complete an orbit-and-a-half of Earth’s nearest neighbour, in a test run for later flights that should see the first woman and first person of colour touch down on lunar soil by the mid-2020s.
America last sent astronauts to the Moon during the Apollo era, from 1969-1972. This time it hopes to build a sustained presence — including a lunar space station — to help prepare for an eventual mission to Mars.
The launch came despite technical issues that ate into the two-hour launch window that opened at 1:04 am.
Engineers were forced to pause the flow of liquid hydrogen into the core stage Tuesday night because of a valve leak, though a team sent to the launch pad resolved the problem after an hour.
Later, the space agency reported that a radar site monitoring the rocket’s flight path was experiencing problems due to a faulty ethernet switch that had to be replaced.
It was third time lucky for NASA after two previous launch attempts were cancelled for technical reasons. Launch was also delayed due to weather setbacks, including Hurricane Ian that battered Florida in late September.