A three-man one-woman crew blasted off on a voyage to the moon Wednesday, riding atop the world’s most powerful operational rocket as it roared away on a trail-blazing flight to help pave the way for upcoming lunar landings and an American moon base.
It was the first piloted moonshot since the end of the Apollo program 53 years ago, a flight expected to carry Artemis 2 commander Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen farther from Earth than any astronauts before them.
The crew will not land on the moon or even go into lunar orbit. But they plan to thoroughly test their Orion capsule, making only its second flight — its first with a crew on board — to make sure it’s up to the task.
At the same time, the mission will test flight controllers and procedures needed to safely send astronauts back to the moon for long-duration stays as NASA sets its sights on winning a superpower space race with China, which plans to send its own taikonauts to the moon before the end of the decade.
“This is a test flight,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman told CBS News. “This is the opening act in a series of missions that will send astronauts to and from the moon with great frequency as we return to stay, to build the moon base and realize the scientific and economic potential on the lunar surface.”
