World Today The
NASA Returns to the Moon
After years of delays, on Nov. 16, 2022, NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS), the most powerful rocket in the world lifted off to travel to the Moon as part of the Artemis program. Carry- ing an uncrewed Orion, SLS lifted off for its flight test debut at 1:47 a.m. EST from Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The launch is the first leg of a mission in which Orion is planned to travel approximately 40,000 miles beyond the
Moon and return to Earth over the course of 25.5 days. NASA says the mission is a critical part of its Moon to Mars explo- ration approach. It’s an important test for the agency before flying astronauts on the Artemis II mission. As the boosters ignited, the rocket lifted above an explo - sion of flames, and then it quickly cleared the launch tower and began its ascent through the atmosphere, an orange streak blazing behind it.
78 Vision Magazine
December 2022
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