The Space Launch System sent the Orion spacecraft on its way.
. During the past few months both hurricanes and technical difficulties caused launch delays — including two scrubs. Then, tonight, engineers managed to fix both an intermittent hydrogen leak and a “bad ethernet switch” in the hours just before launch.
NASA can now put many of those problems in the rear-view as it looks ahead to the program’s future. The SLS carried its Orion capsule to an altitude of just under 4,000 kilometers before the two craft separated and the core stage of the rocket fell back to Earth. Orion will continue onward to the Moon, which it will orbit for several days before returning to Earth. The capsule is scheduled to splash down in the ocean on December 11th. For this mission, Orion was uncrewed — save for a trio of mannequins, two of which were fitted with sensors to measure radiation levels.
One of the main goals of this flight is testing Orion’s heat shield, which will have to endure temperatures of 2,800 degrees Celsius as it enters Earth’s atmosphere. In addition, NASA will be testing radiation shielding, sensors, navigation and communications equipment. The SLS launch was also a test of NASA’s most powerful rocket configuration yet, a prerequisite for future deep space missions. Artemis I, the first integrated flight of SLS and Orion, stands 322 feet — 17 feet taller than the Statue of Liberty — and weighs 5.75 million lbs. During launch and ascent, SLS will produce 8.8 million lbs. of maximum thrust, 15 percent more thrust than the Saturn V rocket.
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