Overview
- The Space Launch System lifted off Wednesday from Kennedy Space Center, sending Orion and four astronauts on a roughly 10‑day loop around the Moon.
- The flight follows a free‑return path that uses lunar gravity to send Orion back to Earth without large engine burns if needed.
- NASA will validate life‑support, navigation, communications, crew manual piloting near Earth, and Orion’s heat shield during reentry.
- The crew is Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canada’s Jeremy Hansen, marking the first woman, first Black astronaut, and first Canadian to make a lunar voyage.
- Teams cleared a faulty battery sensor reading and communications glitches before liftoff after earlier delays from a cold‑test propellant leak and a pad helium‑supply issue, with Orion now aiming for a Moon far‑side pass, deployment of secondary payloads including Argentina’s ATENEA, and a Pacific splashdown on April 11.