Nasa's mighty rocket Artemis finally on course for the moon

Two hurricanes, two months and a number of technical fixes after previous attempts were thwarted, Nasa’s Artemis 1, the most powerful space rocket in history, is finally on course for the moon after lifting off from Florida early yesterday.

- Richard Luscombe

The spacecraft, comprising the mighty Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and pioneering Orion capsule , lit the night sky as it rose from its Cape Canaveral launchpad at 1.47am local time . The 25-day, 1.3 million-mile journey is Nasa’s first crew-capable deep-space mission for half a century.

The capsule will cross the 240,000 miles between Earth and the moon

 and orbit several times before returning. There will be no attempt at a moon landing on this mission.

“On behalf of all the men and women across our great nation who have worked to bring this together to make this day possible, and for the Artemis generation, this is for you,” launch director, Charlie Blackwell Thompson, said shortly after liftoff.

It was the first time the SLS and Orion have flown together. “Artemis I begins a new chapter in lunar exploration,” the space agency tweeted.

No astronauts are aboard the test flight . But it does contain three mannequins and a Snoopy soft toy, gauging radiation levels and testing new life-support systems and equipment designed for a new generation of long-duration human spaceflight.