NASA live-streamed the Artemis 1 launch which went off in the early hours of the morning, around 1:47 am ET IIRC. Although there have been some issues along the way getting to the launch, the launch appears to have been flawless.
No one is on-board for this flight; it’s a test flight of the Space Launch System to validate all the systems this human-carrying Orion spacecraft will use for extended missions to the Moon and farther. The Artemis 1 mission is going to last 25 days.
The spacecraft is currently on its way to the moon. The Moon’s gravity will be used to sling it into an orbit that will loop beyond the Moon, and come back for another swing around the Moon to send it back to splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. Here’s a simplified view of the path it will take.
To get a better idea of how far the Artemis 1 mission is traveling, here’s a picture from NASA’s Lucy mission taken while heading for the outer solar system that took a look back at the Earth and Moon. (The image has been adjusted from the original NASA image at the link to make the Moon on the left more visible.)
Taken from NASA’s live stream of the mission, here’s a view from the spacecraft looking back 57,000 miles out from Earth. The International Space Station orbits only about 200 miles above the Earth — this is a lot farther up with more to go.
There’s much more about the Artemis program at NASA. The eventual plan is for a Gateway space station orbiting the Moon, where astronauts will transfer from Orion spacecraft to lunar landers for a return to the Moon, with a Lunar Base envisioned in the future.
The primary goals for Artemis I are to demonstrate Orion’s systems in a spaceflight environment and ensure a safe re-entry, descent, splashdown, and recovery prior to the first flight with crew on Artemis II.
Mission Facts:
- Launch date: Nov. 16, 2022
- Mission duration: 25 days, 11 hours, 36 minutes
- Total distance traveled: 1.3 miIlion miles
- Re-entry speed: 24,500 mph (Mach 32)
- Splashdown: Dec. 11, 2022
For me, this is a rather poignant moment.
I remember staying up to watch Neil Armstrong take the first steps on the Moon in 1969 while I was still in High School. In 1973 1972 a friend got me a press pass; I was 3 miles from the launch pad, and got to see the last manned mission to the Moon launch — Apollo 17. It was another spectacular night launch. (I still curse Nixon and Congess for killing the 3 remaining Apollo missions.)
I got a peek at what would become Skylab in the Vehicle Assembly Building the day before the Apollo 17 launch, and promotional material for the then upcoming Space Shuttle program. I remember staying up one night years later with my family to watch when a Shuttle mission made a visible pass over our house. I try to make it a regular practice to watch when the International Space Station goes over. Can anyone not marvel at what Hubble has shown us, and what Webb will find?
And I remember those who fell along the way.
The Space Shuttle was an incredible technological advance over expendable boosters; the Space Launch System is a step backwards in that regard, although it is using elements from the Shuttle program. The Shuttle design was the result of many compromises, some of which proved fatal — but the real failures were in management.
I wish we’d taken what we learned and used it to build a next generation Shuttle using the lessons we paid so much for. SpaceX is showing one way. The X-37B and Dream Chaser are showing other ways. (The X-37B recently concluded a record-setting mission.)
Some things to keep in mind about this. Everything has to work perfectly for NASA on these missions. The Space Launch System is big, complex, and too expensive for NASA to launch a bunch of them just to see what breaks and needs to be fixed. They have to get it right the first time and every time.
Is it worth doing? Yes IMHO. We’re not firing rockets full of money into space — those funds are spent here on the ground, providing good jobs, driving development of technology, and expanding our knowledge of the universe as well as providing inspiration, showing what we can do when we choose to dare. Think what NASA could have done with the money spent on Bush’s war of choice, or how much we poured down the drain in Afghanistan every day for 20 years. (Thank you President Biden for finally getting us out.)
It’s a hell of a lot more productive than building crypto-currency houses of cards, or playing games with social media vanity projects. And of course there’s that old geopolitical rivalry driving things, although this time it’s China, not Russia, who is making moves to capture the high ground and the bragging rights.
We take for granted the communication links that go through space; people don’t realize how vital those are to the world economy. Space Force has been treated as a joke by many — but ask Ukraine where they’d be without satellite surveillance, Starlink internet access, or GPS.
NASA has shown we might be able to avoid the fate of the dinosaurs IF we pay attention to what’s happening out there in the Solar System. The ESA Copernicus Program and its Sentinels are providing us with real-time monitoring of the health of the planet. We’re keeping an eye on the Sun with a number of space-based systems, because another Carrington Event could bring down modern civilization if we don’t do what we can to minimize damage. (And even with advance warning, it’d be a disaster.)
So, watching Artemis 1 is bitter-sweet for me. It shouldn’t have taken us this long to get back to the Moon and looking outward again. We are at a critical moment in time. We have the technology to destroy ourselves many times over — or remake the planet into a paradise. What we need is the wisdom and goals to give us better alternatives.
I believe facing up to the challenge of space can help up us find them.
NASA will be following the mission as it continues with periodic updates and live streams as events happen. Stay tuned.
The video below starts with Space Shuttle launch footage teamed with the Moody Blue’s 1969 album inspired by the Apollo program Moon landing: “To Our Children’s Children’s Children”
Here’s the lyrics to the opening track: “Higher and Higher.”
Blasting, billowing, bursting forth
With the power of ten billion butterfly sneezes
Man with his flaming pyre has conquered the wayward breezes
Climbing to tranquility, far above the cloud
Conceiving the heavens, clear of misty shroud
Higher and higher
Now we've learned to play with fire
Go higher and higher and higher
Vast vision must improve our sight
Perhaps at last we'll see an end to our home's endless blight
And the beginning of the free
Climb to tranquility, finding its real worth
Conceiving the heavens, flourishing on Earth
Higher and higher
Now we've learned to play with fire
Go higher and higher and higher
Make it so.