NASA launches its Artemis 1 mission from Kennedy Space Centre, Florida

The American space agency, Nasa, launched on Wednesday its most powerful-ever rocket, as part of a plan to eventually return humans to the Moon. The 98 meter-tall Artemis vehicle climbed skyward in a stupendous mix of light and sound. It brings the United States a big step closer to putting astronauts back on the lunar surface for the first time since the end of the Apollo program 50 years ago. Twelve astronauts walked on the moon during six Apollo missions from 1969 to 1972.

After years of delays and billions in cost overruns, the Space Launch System rocket thundered skyward, rising from Kennedy Space Center on four-million kilograms of thrust and hitting 160 kilometers per hour within seconds. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson remarked it is a great day. however, he also said this is just a test flight.

An estimated 15,000 people jammed the launch site, with thousands more lining the beaches and roads outside the gates, to witness NASA’s long-awaited sequel to Project Apollo. The space agency is aiming to send four astronauts around the moon on the next flight, in 2024, and land humans there as early as 2025.

The 98-meter Space Launch System is the most powerful rocket ever built by the NASA.

The rocket was supposed to have made its dry run by 2017. Government watchdogs estimate NASA will have spent 93 billion dollars on the project by 2025. Ultimately, NASA hopes to establish a base on the moon and send astronauts to Mars by the late 2030s or early 2040s.