<ul class="summary-list"><li>NASA's Space Launch System launched its first Orion spaceship to the moon early Wednesday.</li><li>The mission is an uncrewed flight test that will lay the foundation for an <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-sls-megarocket-newly-assembled-photos-2021-6">Artemis moon landing</a>.</li></ul><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/watch-nasa-launch-new-mega-moon-rocket-artemis-one-mission-2022-8">NASA's most powerful rocket</a> yet, carrying an Orion capsule designed to carry astronauts to the moon, blasted off from Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday.</p><p>The spaceship is now embarking on a 25-day journey around the moon and back. It doesn't have astronauts in tow, but if all goes well, NASA plans to send four people on Orion's next journey.</p><p>As the Space Launch System, or SLS, rocket roared to life for the first time at 1:47 a.m. ET, its boosters and engines spewed fire and steam across the Florida swamp, generating 8.8 million pounds of thrust to heave the rocket off the launchpad and into the skies. After eight minutes and 30 seconds of burning its engines and screaming through the atmosphere, the rocket's orange, 15-story core stage unlatched from the Orion capsule and fell into the Pacific Ocean, leaving the spaceship on a trajectory toward the moon.</p><div type="image" title="illustration shows spaceship with solar panel wings flying past the far side of the moon with earth in the distance" height="1080" width="1440" msid="95551693" hostid="261" sizebytes="94360"></div><p>Orion is now set to travel approximately <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis-i-press-kit/">1.3 million miles</a> in a mission called Artemis I. It's the first phase of NASA's monumental plan to return to the moon, land astronauts on its surface, build a permanent base there, and send a new space station into lunar orbit.</p><p>NASA spent 17 years and $50 billion building SLS and Orion in order to put boots back on the lunar surface <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/moon-missions-why-astronauts-have-not-returned-2018-7">for the first time since 1972</a>. The agency will also enlist SpaceX's mega-rocket, called Starship, to do the actual moon landing, since Orion isn't designed to descend to the lunar surface.</p><h2>Orion's first flight aims to break records and end in a fiery plummet</h2><div type="image" title="illustration shows orion capsule fireball streaking toward earth" height="1152" width="1536" msid="95551695" hostid="261" sizebytes="51696"></div><p>Technical glitches and weather issues — including two hurricanes — have plagued Artemis I. The mission was originally set to launch in February, but NASA repeatedly pushed the date back as it investigated fuel-tank issues, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-mega-rocket-encounters-engine-issue-launch-delayed-until-friday-2022-8">misbehaving engines</a>, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-left-space-launch-system-moon-rocket-out-hurricane-nicole-2022-11">storm damage</a>.</p><p>If everything goes according to plan for this first flight, Orion will zip as close as 60 miles above the lunar surface, allowing lunar gravity to sling it 40,000 miles past the moon — farther than any spacecraft built for humans has ever gone. As it loops back around, Orion should once again skim close to the moon to get a gravitational push back toward Earth.</p><div type="image" title="Artemis 1 mission map." height="4500" width="8001" msid="95551698" hostid="261" sizebytes="825170"></div><p>The mission is designed to prove the SLS rocket can safely deliver Orion to lunar orbit. It also aims to demonstrate that the crew capsule can protect anyone inside during spaceflight, and crucially, that the spaceship's heat shield will preserve it during the fiery-hot plummet through Earth's atmosphere and parachute fall into the Pacific Ocean. The splashdown is scheduled for December 11.</p><p>Though <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasas-artemis-1-rocket-sending-quirky-cargo-moon-and-back-2022-8">no astronauts are aboard Orion</a> this Artemis I test flight, scientists will assess how future astronauts will experience the stresses of space by measuring how much cosmic radiation mannequins aboard the capsule endure during the test flight. The mission is also launching <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2022/nasas-moon-observing-cubesat-ready-for-artemis-launch/">several CubeSats</a>, or miniature satellites, with science missions.</p><p>If the mission succeeds, Artemis II stands to carry astronauts on a similar trip around the moon. Artemis III would dock the Orion spaceship to a SpaceX Starship to land two people on the moon's south pole, including the first woman and the first person of color to set foot on lunar soil. NASA aims to make that lunar landing in 2025.</p>

RETURN TO THE MOON: New NASA rocket launches Orion spaceship on its first flight, blazing a trail for astronaut missions

<ul class="summary-list"><li>NASA rolled its new <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-launching-artemis-mega-rocket-orion-spaceship-around-the-moon-2022-8">Space Launch System (SLS) mega-rocket</a> to its Florida launchpad on Tuesday.</li><li>The first SLS launch is set for August 29, to rocket an Orion spaceship on a flight around the moon.</li></ul><p>NASA's powerful new Space Launch System moon rocket rolled to the launchpad on Tuesday, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/watch-nasa-space-launch-system-moon-rocket-roll-to-launchpad-2022-3">poised to fly</a> its first mission to the moon.</p><p>Standing taller than the Statue of Liberty and crowned with an Orion spaceship, the 23-story rocket was hoisted atop a crawler and rolled 4 miles through the dark to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/watch-nasa-space-launch-system-moon-rocket-roll-to-launchpad-2022-3">Launch Pad 39B</a>.</p><div type="image" title="upright rocket backs out of tall building doorway garage door closes behind it" height="540" width="960" msid="93623700" hostid="261" sizebytes="100836"></div><p>The crawler made its journey at a glacial pace of roughly <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/crawler-transporter2_factsheet_508compliant.pdf">1 to 2 miles an hour</a>, and the trek took over <a href="https://blogs.nasa.gov/artemis/2022/08/17/artemis-i-moon-rocket-arrives-at-launch-pad-ahead-of-historic-mission/">10 hours</a>, starting at about 10 p.m. ET after technicians waited for a lightning storm to pass.</p><div type="image" title="tall orange rocket attached to vertical scaffolding tower on top of rolling platform emerges from tall assembly building" height="1666" width="2222" msid="93623702" hostid="261" sizebytes="316952"></div><p>NASA built the SLS to reinstate its presence on the moon. The rocket is the cornerstone of the agency's new Artemis program, which aims to set up permanent bases in the moon's orbit and on its surface, paving the way to eventually send astronauts to Mars.</p><div type="image" title="dozens of people standing in grass sitting in lawn chairs watch upright rocket roll out of tall building at night" height="1667" width="2500" msid="93623704" hostid="261" sizebytes="283552"></div><p>To jumpstart the program, NASA has set an ambitious goal to land astronauts on the moon in 2025, putting boots on the lunar surface <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/moon-missions-why-astronauts-have-not-returned-2018-7">for the first time since 1972</a>.</p><p>The rocket is due to roar to life and scream through the Florida skies as soon as August 29, pushing an uncrewed Orion spacecraft toward the moon for the first time.</p><div type="image" title="It took over ten hours for the rocket to reach the launchpad." height="3207" width="4277" msid="93621929" hostid="261"></div><p>If everything goes according to plan, the spaceship should fly a wide loop around the moon and back, plummeting to an ocean landing on October 10.</p><p>Artemis I is a test. Before putting astronauts on board, NASA has to prove that SLS and Orion can do the job.</p><div type="image" title="wide shot shows distant rocket rolling far from its assembly building" height="1100" width="2970" msid="93623706" hostid="261" sizebytes="144066"></div><p>Four car-sized engines and two rocket boosters should give the rocket enough thrust to push Orion all the way <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-offering-people-chance-fly-names-around-moon-artemis-mission2022-3">around the moon</a> — traveling further into deep space than any spacecraft made for human passengers has ever traveled.</p><p>While this Orion capsule will have nobody on board, Artemis I will test the rocket and spacecraft's capabilities for carrying astronauts on the <a href="https://moon.nasa.gov/resources/47/journey-to-the-moon/#:~:text=The%20approximately%20250%2C000%2Dmile%20journey,first%20men%20on%20the%20moon.">more-than-250,000-mile journey</a> to the moon.</p><div type="image" title="NASA’s Space Launch System rocketas it is rolled up the ramp at Launch Pad 39B, on August 17, 2022, at Kennedy Space Center in Florida." height="2891" width="3859" msid="93621930" hostid="261"></div><p>"This is now the Artemis generation," Bill Nelson, NASA's administrator, said at a press briefing on August 3. "We were in the Apollo generation, but this is a new generation, this is a new type of astronaut. And to all of us that gaze up at the moon, dreaming of the day humankind returns to the lunar surface, folks, we're here. We are going back and that journey, our journey, begins with Artemis I."</p><div type="image" title="illustration show orange space launch system rocket lifting off" height="1200" width="1600" msid="93621932" hostid="261"></div><p>If the spaceship successfully completes its mission, the next flight, called <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-details-of-artemis-missions-astronauts-return-to-moon-2020-9">Artemis II</a>, will send four astronauts on the same lunar roundabout. Then Artemis III would carry astronauts to lunar orbit and dock to a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-spacex-starship-launch-rocket-texas-faa-experts-doubt-2022-6">SpaceX Starship</a>, which would land them on the moon's surface. </p><p>That's just the beginning of NASA's planned Artemis program. Eventually, NASA plans to launch astronauts from the moon to Mars.</p>

Photos show NASA rolling its new moon mega-rocket to the launchpad for its first lunar flight

<ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-nasa-sls-moon-rocket-taller-than-statue-of-liberty-2021-10">NASA's Space Launch System</a> rocket is scheduled to launch an uncrewed mission to the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-cubesat-lost-contact-moon-satellite-reconnect-2022-7">moon</a> early Wednesday.</li><li>Artemis I is a 42-day flight test that will lay the foundation for future <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-sls-megarocket-newly-assembled-photos-2021-6">Artemis missions.</a></li></ul><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-russia-space-relations-under-pressure-leaving-iss-2022-7">NASA</a> is finally set to launch its <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/watch-nasa-space-launch-system-moon-rocket-roll-to-launchpad-2022-3">new mega-rocket</a>, shooting an Orion spaceship designed for astronauts around the moon, on Wednesday at 1:04 a.m. ET.</p><p>In a bid to return astronauts to the lunar surface for the first time since 1972, NASA has spent 17 years and an estimated $50 billion developing the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/watch-nasa-space-launch-system-moon-rocket-roll-to-launchpad-2022-3">Space Launch System (SLS)</a> and its Orion spaceship.</p><p>The bright new SLS rocket stands taller than the Statue of Liberty, at 23 stories, with the spaceship secured up top. Four car-sized engines and two rocket boosters should give it enough thrust to push Orion all the way around the moon — farther than any spacecraft built for humans has ever flown. That's where NASA's first SLS mission, called Artemis I, is taking it.</p><p>When it launches, the SLS rocket should deliver the Orion spaceship on a trajectory to circle the moon and return to Earth. There are no people on board, since the rocket has never flown before. But if the spaceship successfully completes its mission, NASA plans to put astronauts in the Orion module for another trip around the moon, then land them on its surface using SpaceX's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starship-booster-prototype-test-ends-in-unexpected-explosion-2022-7">Starship</a> in 2025.</p><div type="image" title="illustration shows spaceship with solar panel wings flying past the far side of the moon with earth in the distance" height="1080" width="1440" msid="93540384" hostid="261"></div><p>That's just the beginning of NASA's planned Artemis program, in which it aims to set up a space station in the moon's orbit and establish a permanent base on the lunar surface. Eventually, NASA plans to launch astronauts from the moon to Mars.</p><p>For those interplanetary ambitions to come to fruition, though, the SLS has to fly as planned. The upcoming launch is the first test of its full capabilites.</p><h1>The Artemis I flight plan</h1><div type="image" title="illustration show orange space launch system rocket lifting off" height="1200" width="1600" msid="93540387" hostid="261"></div><p>If the weather is clear enough, and no last-minute technical issues arise, the SLS rocket should fire its engines, shaking the ground and heaving itself off the launchpad at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 1:04 a.m. ET on Wednesday.</p><p>After roaring through the thickest parts of the atmosphere, the rocket's booster should fall away, leaving its upper stage to give the Orion spaceship one last push toward the moon.</p><p>If everything goes smoothly from there, Orion will clock a total distance of approximately <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis-i-press-kit/">1.3 million miles</a> over 25 days. It will zip as close as 60 miles above the lunar surface, allowing lunar gravity to sling it 40,000 miles past the moon. That's further into deep space than any spacecraft made for human passengers has ever traveled.</p><p>As it loops back around, Orion will once again skim close to the moon to get a gravitational push back toward Earth.</p><div type="image" title="Artemis 1 mission map." height="4500" width="8001" msid="93540392" hostid="261"></div><p>Scientists will assess how future astronauts will experience the stresses of space by measuring how much cosmic radiation mannequins aboard the Orion capsule endured during the test flight. The mission will also launch <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2022/nasas-moon-observing-cubesat-ready-for-artemis-launch/">several CubeSats</a>, or minitiature satellites, with science missions.</p><p>However, NASA's main goal with Artemis I is to test every function of the launch and spaceflight system — including Orion's communication and navigation systems and its heat shield, which must withstand a fiery plummet through Earth's atmosphere at <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/engineers-power-up-crew-module-for-first-artemis-mission-with-astronauts">25,000 miles per hour</a> at temperatures reaching 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit — before risking human lives in future missions.</p><div type="image" title="three red and white striped parachutes above a spaceship landing in the ocean" height="3072" width="2048" msid="93540395" hostid="261"></div><p>Orion is scheduled to push itself toward Earth, plow through the atmosphere, and release parachutes to splash down off the coast of San Diego on December 11.</p><p>If the uncrewed Orion spaceship makes it around the moon and back without a hitch, the next SLS mission will carry astronauts on the same roundabout.</p><p>"This is now the Artemis generation," Bill Nelson, NASA's administrator, said at a press briefing on August 3. "We were in the Apollo generation, but this is a new generation, this is a new type of astronaut. And to all of us that gaze up at the moon, dreaming of the day humankind returns to the lunar surface, folks, we're here. We are going back and that journey, our journey, begins with Artemis I."</p><h1>Follow-up missions</h1><div type="image" title="orion spacecraft sls artemis 1 moon mission" height="1152" width="2048" msid="93540398" hostid="261"></div><p>NASA plans for Artemis II to repeat Artemis I's flight, this time carrying a four-person crew on a <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=artemis+2+10+day+nasa.gov&amp;ei=vHD2YqDYF7-lptQPwYi72A4&amp;ved=0ahUKEwigptqNzsH5AhW_kokEHUHEDusQ4dUDCA4&amp;uact=5&amp;oq=artemis+2+10+day+nasa.gov&amp;gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAM6CAgAEIYDELADSgQIQRgBSgQIRhgAUJ8CWJ8CYKIEaAFwAHgAgAFBiAFBkgEBMZgBAKABAcgBAsABAQ&amp;sclient=gws-wiz">10-day mission</a>. That flight is currently scheduled for late 2024.</p><p>Artemis III would be the first time NASA has landed <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/moon-missions-why-astronauts-have-not-returned-2018-7">astronauts on the moon</a> since 1972, and the first time in history a woman and a person of color will walk on the moon.</p><p>"NASA will land the first woman and the first person of color on the moon," Nelson said at the briefing, adding, "On these increasingly complex missions, astronauts will live and work in deep space."</p><p>Eventually, NASA plans to set up a base on the lunar surface and mine resources there, like water, to pave the way for the first human mission to Mars.</p><p><em>This story has been updated with new information. It was originally published on August 13, 2022.</em></p>

NASA is launching its new mega-rocket to shoot a spaceship around the moon. Here's what to expect.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>NASA officials said the next attempt to launch <strong>Artemis I</strong> will be September 27, at the earliest.</li><li>The second launch attempt for NASA's Space Launch System rocket was delayed due to a liquid hydrogen leak.</li></ul><p>NASA is targeting September 27 as the next launch attempt for its <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-how-nasa-built-sls-mega-rocket-artemis-moon-missions-2022-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Artemis I moon rocket,</a> with October 2 as a potential backup date, <a href="https://blogs.nasa.gov/artemis/2022/09/12/nasa-adjusts-dates-for-artemis-i-cryogenic-demonstration-test-and-launch-progress-at-pad-continues/">NASA said</a> Monday.</p><p>That's if engineers are able to fix the hydrogen leak that halted the last launch attempt on September 3, and if the rocket is allowed to stay on the launch pad without another rollback to Kennedy Space Center's Vehicle Assembly Building.</p><p>On Friday, the Artemis I team wrapped up hydrogen leak repairs on Launchpad 39-B in Florida's Kennedy Space Center. NASA plans to conduct fueling tests on September 21 to make sure the source of the fuel leak was removed and the crew is prepared for the next launch attempt.</p><p>On September 27, a 70-minute launch window is slated to open at 11:37 a.m. ET. The rocket should splash back on Earth on November 5. The October 2 backup launch date, which has a 109-minute launch window starting at 2:52 p.m. ET, is "under review," according to NASA. If the rocket launches on October 2, it should land back on Earth on November 11.</p><p>The space agency also reached out to officials from the US Space Force's Eastern Range — who review and approve all missions that lift off from the Cape Canaveral region — to extend a battery retest requirement on the moon rocket's flight termination system.</p><div type="image" title="The countdown clock is stopped after NASA scrubbed the launch of the Artemis I rocket from launch pad 39-B at Kennedy Space Center on September 03, 2022 in Cape Canaveral, Florida." height="2044" width="3000" msid="93975956" hostid="261"></div><h1>Hydrogen fuel woes interrupted the second launch attempt</h1><p>The new launch dates come after the launch of the Space Launch System and its uncrewed Orion capsule was called off for a second time on Saturday, September 3. At 7:15 a.m. ET, a leak occurred as engineers increased the pressure on the flow of liquid hydrogen into the core stage.</p><p>"Teams encountered a liquid hydrogen leak while loading the propellant into the core stage of the Space Launch System rocket," NASA said in a <a href="https://blogs.nasa.gov/artemis/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">blog post</a>. "Multiple troubleshooting efforts to address the area of the leak by reseating a seal in the quick disconnect where liquid hydrogen is fed into the rocket did not fix the issue."</p><p>After attempts to troubleshoot were unsuccessful, Artemis' launch director called off the launch.</p><p>It was the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-mega-rocket-encounters-engine-issue-launch-delayed-until-friday-2022-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">second scrub</a> — NASA's term for calling off a launch on a specific day — for the mega moon rocket. During NASA's first launch attempt on August 29, sensors suggested one of the rocket's four core stage RS-25 engines wasn't cooling down to a safe temperature in time for launch.</p><p>"We don't have the launch that we wanted today. I can tell you these teams know exactly what they're doing and I'm very proud of them," Bill Nelson, NASA administrator, said on September 3. "Just remember we're not going to launch until it's right."</p><div type="image" title="NASA officials hold a press conference after the launch of the Artemis I unmanned lunar rocket was postponed" height="2595" width="3900" msid="93975957" hostid="261"></div><h1><strong>1 in 3 chance of a scrub on any given day</strong></h1><p>In August, NASA engineers tested the rocket's flight termination system, which began a 20-day timeline for launching. If the launch is delayed beyond those 20 days, engineers will have to roll back the rocket for additional testing, Jeremy Parsons, deputy manager of NASA's Exploration Ground Systems, said at a Friday press briefing.</p><p>NASA engineers also contend with weather, a common cause of launch delays. The forecast prior to Saturday's attempt showed 60% favorable weather conditions at the beginning of the launch window. "On any given day, there's about a one in three chance that we will scrub for any reason," Melody Levin, a meteorologist at NASA, said at a briefing on Friday, September 2. "Out of those chances of scrubbing, there's a 50% chance that it's due to weather," Levin said.</p><div type="image" title="dozens of people standing in grass sitting in lawn chairs watch upright rocket roll out of tall building at night" height="1667" width="2500" msid="93974107" hostid="261"></div><p>Additionally, when scheduling a launch attempt, NASA must ensure the Orion capsule doesn't go into an eclipse, or the shadow of the moon, for too long, because it depends on solar power.</p><p>More than <a href="https://talkoftitusville.com/2022/09/01/400000-visitors-expected-on-space-coast-for-artemis-i-launch-labor-day-weekend/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">400,000 visitors</a> were expected to gather near NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Saturday to view the inaugural launch, according to the Space Coast's tourism office.</p><div type="image" title="NASA's Artemis I rocket sits on launch pad 39-B at Kennedy Space Center on September 03, 2022 in Cape Canaveral, Florida." height="3121" width="4682" msid="93974109" hostid="261"></div><p>NASA has spent 17 years and an estimated $50 billion developing the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-space-launch-system-photos-moon-mega-rocket-2022-8">SLS</a> rocket and its Orion spaceship, according to <a href="https://www.planetary.org/space-policy/cost-of-sls-and-orion">The Planetary Society</a>.</p><p>During the Artemis I mission, NASA aims to fly the Orion crew capsule all the way around the moon — farther than any spacecraft built for humans has ever flown — before heading back for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.</p><p>There won't be <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasas-artemis-1-rocket-sending-quirky-cargo-moon-and-back-2022-8">people on board</a> during the Artemis I launch. But if the spaceship successfully completes its mission, NASA plans to put astronauts in the Orion module for another trip around the moon, during the Artemis II mission. It's all in preparation for Artemis III, in which NASA hopes to land the first woman and the first person of color on the lunar surface in 2025. </p><p><em>This story has been updated with new information. It was originally published on September 3, 2022.</em></p>

NASA says it will try to launch its massive moon rocket again in late September

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Elon Musk congratulated SpaceX on an "exciting" Starship launch after the prized rocket exploded. </li><li>The mega-rocket cleared the launchpad but exploded nearly three minutes after liftoff.</li></ul><p>Elon Musk congratulated SpaceX on an "exciting" launch after the company's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-spacex-starship-rocket-explodes-first-orbital-launch-attempt-2023-4">Starship mega-rocket exploded</a> soon after liftoff. </p><p>Starship and its Super Heavy booster failed to separate from each other at a critical moment of the flight, then tumbled through the air and exploded into a huge fireball around three minutes after launch.</p><p>Musk appeared stonefaced in SpaceX's control room moments after the rocket blew up, as shown on the company's livestream. "Congrats @SpaceX team on an exciting test launch of Starship!" he tweeted.</p><h2>Musk was expecting the launch to be spectacular</h2><p>Musk had previously hinted the launch had a one-in-two chance of ending in an explosion. </p><p>"I'm not saying it will get to orbit, but I am guaranteeing excitement," the billionaire said in an interview at the Morgan Stanley Conference on March 7, adding: "Won't be boring!"</p><p>Musk said during a Twitter Spaces session on Sunday that his <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starship-launch-elon-musk-explode-launch-pad-biggest-concern-2023-4">biggest concern</a> for the flight was if Starship "fireballed" on the launchpad.</p><p>Such an incident would melt the steel and destroy the launchpad, he said, adding this would take SpaceX several months to rebuild. If this happened, it would be a "very bad day," Musk said.</p><p>Overall, he estimated a 50% chance that the launch attempt would succeed.</p><h2><strong>Starship blew up but provided useful information</strong></h2><p>Musk said in a tweet Thursday that the launch had provided useful information. </p><p>"Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months," he said.</p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-spacex-starship-humans-mars-mission-2026-experts-question-2021-2">Musk's grandest plans</a> hinge not only on Starship's unprecedented power, but also on its capacity to be fully reusable.</p><p>In 2002, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-rise-of-elon-musk-2016-7">Musk founded SpaceX</a> with the goal of making spaceflight cheap enough to establish a permanent human settlement on Mars. This is the rocket that's supposed to make that happen.</p><p>NASA has also chosen Starship as its next lunar lander, to carry astronauts from an agency vehicle in lunar orbit to the moon's surface. That mission, called Artemis III, could happen sometime this decade.</p><p>The rocket is the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built. With that comes technical challenges that need to be addressed. </p><div type="image" title="An artist's rendering shows a Starship landing on the moon in the future. SpaceX has been contracted to send Starship to the moon." height="1255" width="1674" msid="99646977" hostid="261"></div><p>Up to this point, the tallest rockets were the Saturn V that launched NASA's Apollo missions, and the agency's new Space Launch System, which it developed to return astronauts to the moon again.</p><p>Once fully operational, Starship will be able to carry up to 150 metric tonnes (165 US tons) to space, per SpaceX. That jumps to 250 metric tonnes (275 tons) if the company forgoes reusability and discards the spaceship when the mission is done. </p><p>To put that in perspective, the most powerful operational rocket right now is SpaceX's Falcon Heavy, which carries up to 70 tons to low-Earth orbit.</p><p>Musk's ultimate goal is much bigger than the moon: Eventually, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-plans-1-million-people-to-mars-by-2050-2020-1">the billionaire has said he aims to build 1,000 Starships</a> to fly 100,000 people to Mars per year, build a city there, and make humans the first multi-planetary species in Earth's history.</p>

Elon Musk congratulated SpaceX for an 'exciting' launch of Starship after the rocket exploded

<ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/watch-spacex-starship-mega-rocket-first-orbital-launch-2023-4">SpaceX</a> launched <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/starship-spacex-elon-musk-reusable-rocket-mars-moon-launch-2023-2">Starship, the world's tallest and most powerful rocket</a>, toward orbit for the first time. </li><li>The mega-rocket exploded nearly three minutes after liftoff — an outcome <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-estimates-spacex-starship-first-launch-odds-success-explosion-2023-3">Elon Musk</a> anticipated.</li></ul><p>SpaceX's Starship mega-rocket burst into a fireball during its first attempt to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-estimates-spacex-starship-first-launch-odds-success-explosion-2023-3">launch into orbit</a> on Thursday, adding yet another incident to the rocket's explosive history.</p><p>Elon Musk's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-plans-1-million-people-to-mars-by-2050-2020-1">grandest plans</a> hinge on Starship, which promises to be the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/compare-human-launch-rockets-sizes-sls-starship-soyuz-falcon-shepard-2022-9">tallest, most powerful</a>, and the only fully reusable rocket to ever be launched.</p><p>Musk founded SpaceX with the goal of making spaceflight cheap enough to establish a permanent <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-spacex-mars-colony-talk-iac-2016-9">human settlement on Mars</a>. Starship is the rocket that's supposed to make that happen.</p><div type="image" title="Starship is shown on its launchpad minutes before launch" height="1080" width="1440" msid="99645478" hostid="261"></div><p>Sitting atop its <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-spacex-starship-is-black-and-silver-2023-3">stainless steel</a> Super Heavy booster, this Starship — called Ship 24 — stood nearly 400 feet tall at the company's freshly licensed orbital launchpad in <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/boca-chica-residents-complain-about-space-x-2021-5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Boca Chica, Texas</a> on Thursday morning.</p><p>At 8:33 a.m. Central Time, the giant booster's array of 33 truck-sized Raptor engines roared to life, heaving itself off the ground. This was the first time Starship and Super Heavy flew together.</p><div type="image" title="Starship black rocket lifts off from texas plains" height="1553" width="2070" msid="99645479" hostid="261"></div><p>Everything went according to plan until 2 minutes and 49 seconds into the flight, when Starship was supposed to separate from the Super Heavy booster and continue into space. That didn't happen. Instead, the rocket and its booster tumbled through the air, falling back toward Earth.</p><p>"We should have had separation by now. Obviously this is, uh, does not appear to be a nominal situation," SpaceX announcer and engineer John Insprucker said on the company's livestream.</p><div type="image" title="Elon Musk is seen in the SpaceX mission control as Starship blows up in the sky." height="1681" width="2242" msid="99646981" hostid="261"></div><p>A hush fell over the control room at SpaceX's facilities, where Musk himself was watching, until the tumbling rocket exploded in a fireball.</p><p>"Starship just experienced what we call a rapid unscheduled disassembly," Insprucker said.</p><p>Watch the video from the moment things went wrong:</p><p>It's not yet clear what caused the issue, though mission managers said that four of the booster's Raptor engines were not firing during flight.</p><p>"We cleared the [launch] tower, which honestly was our only hope," Kate Tice, a SpaceX engineering manager, added on the broadcast.</p><p>SpaceX was planning for the rocket to reach space, spend an hour at orbital heights, and return to splash down in one piece in the Pacific Ocean, north of the Hawaiian islands.</p><p>Starship didn't reach those heights, but it did beam back this stunning photo before the incident.</p><div type="image" title="A view from the cameras onboard SpaceX's Starship shows the Earth's horizon." height="1800" width="2880" msid="99646983" hostid="261"></div><p>"With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and today's test will help us improve Starship's reliability as SpaceX seeks to make life multi-planetary," SpaceX said on <a href="https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1649046293489254402">Twitter</a>, as Musk <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1649050306943266819">congratulated</a> the company on "an exciting test launch."</p><h2>Elon Musk guaranteed excitement, not success</h2><p>The <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starship-launch-elon-musk-explode-launch-pad-biggest-concern-2023-4">biggest concern</a> for Musk would be if Starship "fireballed" and melted the launch pad, he said during a Twitter Spaces session on Sunday. Musk said such an incident would melt the steel and damage the launch pad, which would take SpaceX several months to rebuild.</p><p>Musk had estimated about a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-estimates-spacex-starship-first-launch-odds-success-explosion-2023-3">50% chance of success</a>, hinting that it could explode like previous low-flying prototypes.</p><p>"I'm not saying it will get to orbit, but I am guaranteeing excitement," Musk said in an interview at the Morgan Stanley Conference on March 7, adding: "Won't be boring!"</p><p>This is likely not the end of Starship.</p><p>Musk previously said that SpaceX is building <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/worlds-richest-person-elon-musk-dedicate-wealth-mars-colony-2021-1" rel="">multiple Starship rockets</a> to launch this year. Musk estimated that there's about an 80% chance one of them will reach orbital heights. </p><h2>Starship could revolutionize spaceflight, once SpaceX figures out how to fly it</h2><p>Starship's size, strength, and full reusability are the cornerstones of SpaceX's mission to reduce the cost of spaceflight. </p><div type="image" title="A bar chart comparing the heights of different rockets, using illustrations of the rockets in lieu of bars" height="1800" width="2401" msid="99646985" hostid="261"></div><p>Once fully operational, Starship will be able to carry up to 150 metric tonnes (165 US tons) to space, according to SpaceX. That jumps to 250 metric tonnes (275 tons) if the company forgoes reusability and discards the spaceship, Starship, when the mission is done.</p><p>To put that in perspective, the most powerful operational rocket right now is SpaceX's Falcon Heavy, which carries up to 70 tons to low-Earth orbit.</p><p>No rocket system has ever achieved full reusability. SpaceX has already mastered reusing the boosters on its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, which land safely back on Earth after launching payloads to orbit. But their upper stages are discarded after launch.</p><p>Starship-Super Heavy promises to return both parts to Earth, if the spaceship and the booster can fly and land without blowing up.</p><p>Starship alone has already flown 12 miles high and landed back on Earth in one piece — after four attempts ended in explosion.</p><p>Safely landing both rocket stages is a new level of engineering complexity that's never been done before, Musk said at the Morgan Stanley conference in March.</p><p>"It'll probably take us a couple more years to achieve full and rapid reusability," Musk said at the time, adding that reusability was "the profound breakthrough that is needed to extend life beyond Earth." </p><h2>Starship could bring NASA back to the moon</h2><div type="image" title="starship moon human landing system" height="2700" width="3600" msid="99646987" hostid="261"></div><p>Explosion aside, Starship's first orbital launch is also an important stepping stone on the way back to the moon.</p><p>Though NASA's SLS rocket is meant to be the workhorse for its new Artemis moon program, the agency has enough faith in SpaceX to tag Starship for a crucial part of its upcoming missions: returning astronauts to the lunar surface. </p><p>The agency has awarded SpaceX $4 billion to turn the spaceship into a reliable moon-landing vehicle.</p><p>SLS is supposed to take astronauts to the moon's orbit, but Starship is the vehicle NASA has chosen to carry people down to the lunar surface for the first time since 1972. That mission, called Artemis III, could happen sometime this decade.</p><p>Later, Starship could support NASA's construction of a permanent base on the moon.</p><div type="image" title="An artist's rendering shows a Starship landing on the moon in the future. SpaceX has been contracted to send Starship to the moon." height="1255" width="1674" msid="99646989" hostid="261"></div><p>Musk's ultimate goal is much bigger: Eventually, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-plans-1-million-people-to-mars-by-2050-2020-1">the billionaire has said he aims to build 1,000 Starships</a> to fly 100,000 people to Mars per year, build a city there, and make humans the first multi-planetary species in Earth's history.</p>

Watch SpaceX's prized Starship mega-rocket explode into a fireball in a video of its first attempt to launch into space

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="6360409" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="nasa" source="Orion">NASA</keyword> and <keyword id="11908743" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="spacex" source="Orion">SpaceX</keyword>'s plan to land humans on the <keyword id="11900364" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="moon" source="Orion">moon</keyword> faces "several years" of delay, the Office of the Inspector General said.</li><li>SpaceX's <keyword id="11945700" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="starship" source="Orion">Starship</keyword> and NASA's spacesuits still need to be developed and tested, per the OIG's report.</li></ul><p>NASA and SpaceX's moon landing will likely be delayed "several years" beyond 2024, according to a <a href="https://oig.nasa.gov/docs/IG-22-003.pdf">report</a> by the <keyword id="11895441" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="space" source="Orion">space</keyword> agency's watchdog.</p><p>Earlier this month, NASA <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-pushes-astronaut-moon-landing-to-2025-racing-china-2021-11">pushed back the date to land humans on the moon in SpaceX's Starship spaceship</a> from 2024 to 2025. According to the report by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG), which audits NASA programs, the launch could be further delayed. </p><p>"Given the time needed to develop and fully test the [landing system] and new spacesuits, we project NASA will exceed its current timetable for landing humans on the moon in late 2024 by several years," the report said.</p><p>The OIG report noted that SpaceX still needed to test its <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-new-starship-prototype-sn11-lands-amid-debris-2021-3">Starship spaceship</a> in orbit, practice refueling it in orbit so it can reach the moon, and perform an uncrewed mission.</p><p>On top of this, the delivery of the astronauts' spacesuits had been pushed back, partly because of lack of funding, OIG's report said.</p><p>NASA's Artemis I and Artemis II missions, which help prepare for the final mission to the moon, Artemis III, could also be delayed because of "technical challenges" with the agency's own <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-nasa-sls-moon-rocket-taller-than-statue-of-liberty-2021-10">Space Launch System rocket</a> and Orion spaceship, according to OIG's report.</p><p>NASA is expected to spend a total of $93 billion on the Artemis program between 2012 and 2025, the OIG's report said.</p><p>NASA didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.</p><p>In April, <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/as-artemis-moves-forward-nasa-picks-spacex-to-land-next-americans-on-moon">NASA awarded SpaceX</a> an <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-elon-musk-nasa-lunar-landing-astronauts-2021-4">exclusive $2.9 billion contract</a> to land the first humans on the moon since 1972.</p><p>NASA only chose one company for the contract when it was expected to choose two. One of the other companies in contention, Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, subsequently filed a lawsuit against NASA, claiming the space agency's decision to award a <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/04/17/988416951/spacex-wins-2-9-billion-contract-for-next-lunar-lander#:~:text=NASA%20will%20pay%20Elon%20Musk's,NASA's%20Human%20Landing%20System%20program.">$2.9 billion contract to SpaceX</a> was "unfair."</p><p>The OIG report said that Blue Origin's protests had caused delays to the agency's schedule. </p><p>When NASA announced in early November that it had pushed back its timeline for its return to the moon to 2025, Bill Nelson, the agency's administrator, partially blamed <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-blue-origin-desperate-file-lawsuit-legal-action-elon-musk-2021-11">Blue Origin</a> for the delay.</p>

NASA and SpaceX's plan to land humans on the moon could be delayed 'several years' after 2024, the space agency's watchdog says

Washington, A key rocket test for <keyword id="6360409" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Nasa">NASA</keyword>'s much-delayed <keyword id="1347202" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Space-Launch-System">Space Launch System</keyword> (SLS) ended in an early shutdown as four rocket engines fired for a little over a minute, while these were supposed to be up for nearly eight minutes.<br /><br />The SLS is set to play a key role in the agency's Artemis programme which aims to return astronauts to the Moon.<br /><br />The SLS programme conducted a hot fire of the Artemis I core stage at NASA's Stennis Space Centre.<br /><br />"All four RS-25 engines ignited successfully, but the test was stopped early after about a minute. At this point, the test was fully automated," NASA said in a statement late on Saturday.<br /><br />The team had planned to have the <keyword id="10608112" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="engines-fire">engines fire</keyword> for approximately eight minutes, or about the same amount of time it would take to launch <keyword id="8088892" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="future-missions">future missions</keyword> to the Moon.<br /><br />"During the firing, the onboard software acted appropriately and initiated a safe shutdown of the engines," NASA said.<br /><br />During the test, the propellant tanks were pressurised, and this data will be valuable as the team plans the path forward.<br /><br />"In the coming days, engineers will continue to analyse data and will inspect the core stage and its four RS-25 engines to determine the next steps," the US space agency added.<br /><br />The sensors monitored the core for vibration, temperature, acoustics, and stress.<br /><br />Even though the test was cut short, those sensors did gather a lot of data that may eventually help NASA determine the path forward.<br /><br />The SLS was originally scheduled to make its flight debut in 2017.<br /><br />NASA's Artemis I mission is an uncrewed flight test that will launch Orion on the agency's Space Launch System rocket to orbit the Moon and return to <keyword id="6359982" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="earth">Earth</keyword>.<br /><br />On Artemis II, Orion will carry a crew of astronauts around the Moon and back, and Artemis III will land the first woman and next man on the lunar surface by 2024.<br /><br />Subsequent missions will explore more of the Moon and test the technologies and procedures needed for human exploration of Mars.<br /><br /><br /><strong>SEE ALSO:<br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/samsung-galaxy-s21-series-launched-in-india-price-specifications-and-everything-you-need-to-know/articleshow/80271404.cms">Samsung Galaxy S21 series launched in India – price, specifications, and everything you need to know</a><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/hcl-tech-clocks-in-nearly-27-jump-in-profit-crosses-the-10-billion-revenue-in-third-quarter-of-year-2020-21/articleshow/80278852.cms">HCL Tech clocks in nearly 27% jump in profit, crosses the $10 billion revenue milestone with one more quarter left</a><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/education/news/here-are-the-top-courses-in-fintech-offered-by-indias-premier-colleges/articleshow/80286668.cms">From IIMs to BITS Pilani — here are the top courses in fintech offered by India’s premier colleges</a><br /></strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/travel/article/the-forgotten-little-town-of-bundi-in-rajasthan-is-a-treasure-waiting-to-be-unearthed/articleshow/80301178.cms"><strong>The forgotten little town of Bundi in Rajasthan is a treasure waiting to be unearthed</strong></a><br />

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Elon Musk congratulated SpaceX for an 'exciting' launch of Starship after the rocket exploded

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Watch SpaceX's prized Starship mega-rocket explode into a fireball in a video of its first attempt to launch into space

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NASA and SpaceX's plan to land humans on the moon could be delayed 'several years' after 2024, the space agency's watchdog says

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Key NASA rocket test ends with early engine shutdown

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