NASA finally launched the Super-heavy rocket SLS
(NASA/Bill Ingalls http://bit.ly/3AkohIW)
To the stars!
This morning took place the first successful launch of the new super-heavy rocket SLS with the unmanned Orion spacecraft, which will visit the Moon and return to Earth in 26 days.
The vehicle went to space Together with the ship, two mannequins, biological experiments, and 10 small research satellites.
The launch of Artemis-1 was originally scheduled for the end of August this year, but the launch was canceled and postponed twice due to liquid hydrogen leaks.
Then in September, the problems were fixed, but the launch was hampered by bad weather, including Hurricane Nicole, which caused minor damage to the airtight seal on the exterior of the Orion capsule.
Nevertheless, on November 14, NASA announced that the problem found would not interfere with the launch.
And on the evening of November 15, the agency began filling the rocket with liquid oxygen and hydrogen.
However, a hydrogen leak was then discovered in the main stage refill valve, which was manually repaired.
There were issues with the replacement of the Ethernet switch for the radar node, and they resulted in a temporary launch delay.
FINALLY
On November 16, 2022 at 02:48 EST, the two-stage SLS rocket successfully launched for the first time from pad LC-39B at the Kennedy Space Center.
The main payload was the Orion spacecraft, equipped with a service module containing:
two mannequins
yeast
seeds of Tal's resicum
strains of the black aspergillus fungus
photosynthetic algae
The payload also included 10 cubesat satellites.
It is noteworthy that the four RS-25D engines mounted on the central unit have already been repeatedly used during shuttle flights.
The flight took almost two hours and passed without any problems.
The central unit and side boosters initially launched Orion and the satellites into Earth orbit, along with the ICPS cryogenic second stage.
After that the ICPS placed the payload on a trajectory leading to the Moon and separated.
It is expected that the Orion flight will last 26 days, during which time the ship will have time to make two close flybys of the Moon and visit a distant retrograde circumlunar orbit.
After that, it will return to Earth, where the return capsule will splash down in the ocean on December 11.
Sources:
NASA: https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/liftoff-nasa-s-artemis-i-mega-rocket-launches-orion-to-moon
SpaceNews: https://spacenews.com/sls-launches-artemis-1-mission/
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