We are going.

For the first time, the @NASA_SLS rocket and @NASA_Orion fly together. #Artemis I begins a new chapter in human lunar exploration. pic.twitter.com/vmC64Qgft9

— NASA (@NASA) November 16, 2022

The sky turned from dark to light as the Space Launch System blasted with 8.8 million pounds of thrust taking off at 1:47 a.m. from KSC’s Launch Pad 39-B to become the most powerful rocket to ever successfully launch into space.

“For once I might be speechless,” said NASA launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson to her team. “This is your moment. … You are part of a first. We are all part of something incredibly special, the first launch of Artemis, the first step of returning our country to the moon and onto Mars. … The harder the climb, the better the view. We showed the Space Coast tonight what a beautiful view it is.” …

The lead-up to launch stayed issue-free for the majority of tanking procedures that began Tuesday afternoon, but soon after 10 p.m., yet another liquid hydrogen leak headache emerged, coupled with a malfunctioning radar down range. Liquid hydrogen leaks had led to previous scrubs of launch attempts in August and September as well as problems during wet dress rehearsals in the spring.

But teams overcame Tuesday night’s problems, so it forced only a 43-minute delay into the two-hour window that opened at 1:04 a.m.

NASA halted some tanking of liquid hydrogen to send technicians to the launch pad to tighten bolts on the mobile launcher. The U.S. Space Force sent personnel out to the downrange radar site to replace an ethernet switch required for the radar to be able to send a signal to the rocket in case it needed to self-destruct.

Two minutes after liftoff, the two solid rocket boosters dropped off, followed by separation of the 212-foot-tall core stage abotu eight minutes into flight after having done their job to push the Orion spacecraft up into low-Earth orbit.

(via Lucianne)