NASA finally launches Artemis mission to the moon

It was a nail-biter, but NASA finally got the first rocket in its Artemis mission off the ground.

The rocket lifted off at 1:47 a.m. ET, lighting up the early morning sky in Cape Canaveral, Fla.

"Today we got to witness the world's most powerful rocket take the Earth by its edges and shake the wicked out of it," Artemis mission manager Mike Sarafin said in a post-launch briefing. "And it was quite a sight."

But it wasn't without its problems.

After a successful fuelling of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen in its main rocket — which encountered issues in its first launch attempt back in August and early September — it once again encountered an issue with its liquid hydrogen, this time in its second stage, called the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion System.

NASA had previously encountered a liquid hydrogen leak during its first two launch attempts. It fixed the initial issue for this launch attempt. However, during the propellant load of its second stage — which takes the Orion capsule destined for the moon into its desired orbit — another leak was detected.

A crew was sent to the pad — a perilous job with a rocket loaded with fuel — to fix the issue, which worked.

But once again, there was another issue. This time with an ethernet cable from the range, which monitors safety in and around the launch area. But they eventually fixed that, too.

The Space Launch System — the rocket itself — is the space agency's most powerful rocket ever built. Atop it sits the Orion spacecraft, which will one day ferry astronauts to and from the moon. The last time humans were on the moon was in December 1972.

Though the rocket performed, it's only the start of the mission: Orion successfully completed its translunar injection, which puts it on its path to the moon. Now, the 26-day mission begins, which will test multiple systems, including most importantly, a new heat shield that is designed to protect astronauts from heat as they re-enter the atmosphere at nearly 40,000 km/h.

This is an uncrewed mission, with the only passengers being three mannequins on board that are part of a few experiments, including testing a vest that will protect astronauts from lethal space radiation. 

Artemis II, set to launch in 2024, will carry four astronauts — including a Canadian — who will orbit the moon and return to Earth.

Artemis III, set to launch in 2025, will see humans once again on the surface of the moon.

But trying to get the Artemis mission up and going had been quite the challenge for NASA.