Following a successful launch of NASA’s Space Launch System on Wednesday morning, the agency’s Orion spacecraft is on its way to the moon as part of the Artemis program.
The launch is the first leg of a mission in which Orion is planned to travel approximately 40,000 miles beyond the moon and return to Earth over the course of 25.5 days. Known as Artemis I, the mission is a critical part of NASA’s moon to Mars exploration approach, in which the agency explores for the benefit of humanity. It’s an important test for the agency before flying astronauts on the Artemis II mission.
After reaching its initial orbit, Orion deployed its solar arrays and engineers began performing checkouts of the spacecraft’s systems. About 1.5 hours into flight, the rocket’s upper stage engine successfully fired for approximately 18 minutes to give Orion the big push needed to send it out of Earth orbit and toward the moon.