NASA’s Artemis 1 Successfully Launches, Headed Toward Moon

On Wednesday, November 16th, 2022 at 1:47 am EST, NASA’s Artemis 1 mission successfully launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Artemis 1 is the first mission of the Artemis program and is an important test of the new Space Launch System (SLS), NASA’s newest rocket that is responsible for carrying the Orion crew capsule into space.

NASA’s Artemis 1 lifting off during its nighttime launch. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

It has been known for a long time that we wanted to go back to the Moon, but funding and other delays have repeatedly set it back. NASA has long had issues with delaying projects, including the recently launched James Webb Space Telescope, which had an originally planned launch in 2007 before major design changes were made in 2005.

In 2004 George W. Bush announced plans for the United States to return to the Moon. As the project began taking shape, the focus shifted toward using Moon missions as a stepping stone in preparation for interplanetary travel to Mars. The Artemis program would be for Moon and Mars missions alike, sending humanity back to the Moon and the first humans to Mars.

The focus of the Artemis program again shifted in 2017, when the decision was made to spend more time on Moon missions. Rather than use the Moon missions as practice for going to Mars, the goal became building a base on the Moon and establishing a permanent…