The Space Launch System (SLS) rocket carrying the Orion spacecraft, carrying four NASA astronauts, has launched toward the Moon, APA reports.
Live coverage of the first manned mission to the moon since 1972 is available on NASA's website.
The launch took place from the Kennedy Space Center at 6:35 PM local time. NASA astronauts Reed Weisman, Christina Koch, and Victor Glover, along with Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, are expected to orbit the Moon without landing, before returning to Earth. The mission is expected to last 10 days.
An hour and a half before launch, engineers discovered a problem with the remote flight abort system, but the issue was quickly resolved.
The last manned mission to the Moon took place in December 1972 as part of the American Apollo 17 expedition.
In the spring of 2019, NASA announced the Artemis lunar program, consisting of three phases. The first (Artemis I) envisioned an uncrewed flight of the Orion spacecraft around the Moon and its return to Earth. The flight took place from November 16 to December 11, 2022. The second phase of the program (Artemis II) envisions a crewed flyby of Earth's natural satellite. In the third phase (Artemis III), NASA hopes to land astronauts on the Moon. In June 2025, US Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy stated that a lunar landing could occur within the next 3.5 years, although NASA had previously suggested mid-2027 as the target date.
