U.S. has sent astronauts to the Moon for the first time since 1972

The launch was carried out using the heavy-lift SLS rocket from Launch Complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Wednesday at 6:35 p.m. Eastern Time (Thursday at 1:35 a.m. Kyiv time), NASA reports.

The mission crew consists of Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen.

Eight minutes after launch, the SLS rocket placed Orion into low Earth orbit. The core stage and side boosters separated, after which the rocket’s upper stage transferred the spacecraft to a high elliptical orbit with an apogee of approximately 74,000 kilometers from Earth.

After 25 hours of flight, Orion will complete a full orbit around the planet, after which its own engines will increase its speed to 11 km/s and direct the spacecraft toward the Moon. Orion is expected to reach its closest approach to the Moon in five days.

The spacecraft is scheduled to fly 7,500 km from the lunar surface and return to Earth, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean. The flight will last 10 days.

Photo: NASA/Bill Ingalls.