by Xinhua Writer Tan Jingjing
LOS ANGELES, April 1 (Xinhua) -- NASA's Artemis II moon mission lifted off Wednesday from the U.S. state of Florida, carrying four astronauts on the first crewed lunar flyby in more than 50 years.
The Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, with the Orion spacecraft atop, launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 6:35 p.m. Eastern Time (2235 GMT), sending the crew on a historic 10-day journey around the Moon and back.
It is NASA's first crewed mission under the Artemis program. The four-member crew consists of NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
The launch countdown was briefly paused at the T-10 minute mark before resuming several minutes later.
About eight minutes after liftoff, NASA confirmed the main engine cutoff of the SLS core stage and the successful separation from the interim cryogenic propulsion stage and Orion spacecraft, marking the conclusion of the rocket's first major propulsion phase.
Approximately 24 minutes after launch, Orion's solar array wings were fully deployed and began generating power. Each wing contains about 15,000 solar cells that convert sunlight into electricity.
The crew and engineers on the ground then began transitioning the spacecraft from launch to flight operations to start checking out key systems.
About 49 minutes into the test flight, the SLS rocket's upper stage ignited to put Orion into an elliptical orbit around Earth. A second planned burn by the stage will propel Orion into a high Earth orbit extending about 73,600 km beyond Earth, after which Orion will separate and continue the mission independently.
During a planned multi-hour lunar flyby on April 6, astronauts are expected to photograph and observe the Moon's surface, including areas of the far side rarely seen by humans, according to NASA.
The crew will also conduct a series of human health investigations during the mission.
Following the lunar flyby, the astronauts will return to Earth and splash down in the Pacific Ocean.
"Artemis II is a test flight, and the test has just begun. The team that built this vehicle, repaired it, and prepared it for flight has given our crew the machine they need to go prove what it can do," said NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya.
As the first crewed Artemis mission, the flight will test life support systems with astronauts on board and help pave the way for sustained human presence on the Moon and future missions to Mars.
The mission will carry astronauts farther from Earth and closer to the Moon than any humans have traveled in over half a century, NASA said. ■
