NASA’s Artemis II launch successfully lifted off Wednesday evening, with a chance that people in Florida and even southern Georgia got a view of the launch.
NASA had said the launch may be glimpsed from as far away as Savannah, roughly 124 miles from the launch site.
The rocket launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, sending four astronauts around the moon for the first time since 1972.
Severe Weather Team 2 Meteorologist Eboni Deon spoke to NASA about the Artemis II mission and the next steps on the mission to the moon, and beyond.
“I’m hopeful we’re going to get off the ground tomorrow night,” Katie Oriti, manager of the Orion European Service Module Integration Office, said, speaking one-on-one with Channel 2 Action News before the historic flight.
Right now, the crew of four astronauts are in isolation ahead of their 10 day, 685,000 mile journey deeper into space, farther than any human in history.
“Once we get close to the moon, we actually use the moon’s gravity to essentially slingshot the spacecraft back towards Earth,” Oriti said.
NASA said Wednesday’s mission is a major step in returning the United States to the moon, building a permanent lunar base and setting up a potential trip to Mars.
“The intent and objective of this mission is to test our crew and life support systems to make sure that they function and perform as expected,” Oriti said. Want to make sure that all of those systems work as expected before we go do more complex missions for the Artemis program."
Oriti said she’s heard the crew say multiple times that they’re not going to the moon for themselves, but “for all of humanity.”
“It’s really for all humanity to inspire the next generation to be explorers, be curious, be inspired by space and technology,” Oriti said.
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