Bad news for flat-earthers, as NASA released breathtaking images of a round, blue planet Earth after its Artemis I rocket launch that’s headed for a trip around the moon and back, finally on its way after months of delays.
NASA launches Artemis I rocket on round-trip to the moon
In the predawn skies over NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Florida, the space agency’s new 322-foot-tall moon rocket Artemis I, it’s most powerful ever, took to the skies in a spectacular launch on its way to the moon.
Artemis I is carrying a white, bell-shaped capsule called Orion that is loaded with mannequins and no astronauts on a 25-day test flight that will take it around the moon and back, NPR reported.
The mission calls for the Orion capsule to orbit the moon at a distance of about 80 miles of its surface, while its maximum distance from the Earth will be 268,553 miles—surpassing a record set by NASA’s Apollo 13 mission in 1970.
If the mission is successful, Orion will return to Earth faster and hotter than any human-rated spacecraft ever. If it remains on schedule, it will splash down in the Pacific Ocean on December 11, off the coast of San Diego, California.
Earlier attempts to launch the rocket were frustrated by multiple delays, including repeated hydrogen fuel leaks, ground system glitches, two hurricanes, and back-to-back launch slips, CBS reported.
Even this successful launch suffered a 43-minute delay as crews worked to fix an intermittent leak in a hydrogen valve on the rocket’s mobile launch platform, as well as clear a glitch that briefly interrupted radar tracking data.
Two years from now, NASA plans to launch another Artemis rocket, this time with a capsule containing astronauts on board, where the space agency hopes to put the first woman and first person of color on the lunar surface by 2025.
NASA shows glorious images of Earth from Artemis I flight
NASA shared videos of both the Artemis I lift off, as well as a view of planet Earth from space on the official NASA Artemis Twitter page.
NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket is equipped with eight cameras, and the Orion has 16.
The cameras on board the spacecraft will capture and collect images and data that will give NASA experts further insight into the Moon, LADBible reported.
After the release of the images of Earth from space, people on social media couldn’t resist tagging people belonging to the Flat Earth Society to show them the footage as the Orion travels further into space, hoping to put an end to the conspiracy theory that Earth is flat.
However, there are still some people that still insist America never landed on the moon. If all goes well, NASA’s 2025 mission should put an end to those doubts as well.
