If the mission goes as planned, the spacecraft will leave Earth orbit on Thursday and swing around the moon for 3 days. The entire mission is expected to take 10 days.
One of the witnesses said, “I have been looking forward to this for like 10,15 years. I have been following NASA's last Artemis programs, the Space Launch System. I keep up with the news. This is like a bucket list honestly. I have always wanted to be here. I live here in Florida and to see an actual NASA rocket, it's incredible.”
“I drove 8 hours from Carolina to be here with all of you. It's such a beautiful event and this event can bring this beautiful country together,” according to another witness.
This is the first crewed flight using NASA's new Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, which was designed for long-term explorations. It will eventually return humans to the moon and establish a long-term base there.
It’s the first lunar mission to have a person of color, a woman, and a non-American on board. If successful, the mission will set a new record for the farthest humankind has ever traveled from Earth.
