NASA finally launched its Artemis I moon rocket at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida early Wednesday (November 16) morning after the test flight faced several delays earlier this year, NBC News reports.
The mission marks the first time NASA's Space Launch System -- which the agency refers to as the "most powerful rocket in the world" -- and the Orion capsule will fly together.
The test mission took place 50 years after NASA's final Apollo mission.
"[F]or the Artemis generation, this is for you," launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, the agency's first female launch director, said prior to giving the go-ahead for liftoff, which took place at 1:48 a.m.
The test flight is crucial for NASA making a step toward returning astronauts to the moon, as well as a possible future on Mars, according to Blackwell-Thompson.
“You are part of a first. They don’t come along very often — once in a career, maybe,” Blackwell-Thompson said via NBC News. “But we are all part of something incredibly special: the first launch of Artemis.”
The 26-day Artemis I flight is intended to test the SLS rocket and the Orion capsule, which is carrying mannequins with sensors to measure radiation levels before including humans onboard in future missions.
In September, NASA delayed the launch of the moon rocket from Cape Canaveral amid the threat of Hurricane Ian, the Associated Press reported at the time.
Artemis' launch had been delayed three times in a span of a month at the time, having previously been postponed due to hydrogen fuel leaks and other technical issues.
In August, NASA scrubbed the launch of Artemis due to an "engine bleed that couldn't be remedied," the agency said during its livestream of the scheduled launch.
NASA officials called for a hold in their countdown at approximately T-minus 40 minutes to launch due to what commentator Derrol Nail referred to as an "engine bleed," which was "something they wanted to test," the New York Times reports.
“This was the first opportunity for this team to see this live in action,” Nail said, noting that engineers referred to it as “a particularly tricky issue.”
Officials confirmed on August 28 that five lightning strikes hit the 600-foot towers surrounding the Artemis rocket at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on August 27, however, the rocket nor capsule experienced any damage, NBC News reports.
NASA may plan to send astronauts to the moon in a few years if the Artemis test flight is successful, though officials are aware that risks are high and a potential journey could end earlier than planned.