After its fourth delay, NASA’s Artemis I rocket successfully blasted off and lit up Merritt Island’s dark sky Wednesday morning, making history for NASA and UCF.
Standing four miles away from Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center, the roar of the rocket felt like an earthquake announcing that the future had arrived. A force and power not seen before in previous NASA projects; Artemis I is the most powerful rocket ever built by the space agency.
Orion will fly about 60 miles above the moon’ surface at its closest approach, and then use its gravitational force to propel Orion into a distant retrograde orbit, traveling about 40,000 miles past the moon. This distance is 30,000 miles farther than the previous record set during Apollo 13 in 1970.
In an emotional speech, Artemis launch director, Charlie Blackwell-Thompson addressed the launch team right after the historical moment.
“You’ve earned your place in history,” Thompson said. “You’re part of a first that doesn’t come along very often, once in a career maybe…the first step in returning our country to the moon and onto Mars.”
She said this moment would inspire a new generation of explorers and congratulated the team.
Artemis’ propulsion did not just leave a mark across the Merritt Island firmament, it also left a permanent mark in the human endeavor of space exploration, and the work UCF has done for the last 50 years has contributed to this.
Artemis I is the first of three parts of the program. This first rocket is a test, flying uncrewed to explore the moon’s surface and facilitate the mission to Artemis II and III in the following years. NASA will use innovative technologies to explore the moon’s surface, which the mission aims to establish our planet’s first long-term presence on our satellite and eventually send astronauts to interplanetary travel to Mars and beyond.
But before safely sending astronauts to space, NASA wants to understand the risks on our moon’s soil and create solutions to help settle a permanent gateway to the moon. Autumn Shackelford, a physics doctoral student studying planetary bodies without atmospheres, such as Lunar Regolith Simulants, which is fake lunar dirt produced by UCF, said how harmful lunar dust could be to humans.
“There is a lot of trace elements and solar radiation,” Shackelford said. “These elements cause this sort of dangerousness, and also the fact that these particles are so tiny and sharp because they have been hit by meteorites a bunch of times, they can tear up your insides and give you cancer.”
Knowing the risks to humans on the moon is extremely important to succeed in future missions. With that knowledge, NASA can send the right tools with the astronauts to further explore the South Pole of Earth’s natural satellite while increasing the mission’s safety as well.
Dr. Kerri Donaldson Hanna, an assistant professor in the physics department and planetary research expertise, said that UCF’s working relationship with the space agency would enable the Artemis program to accomplish its goals and amplify further studies once the first rocket returns.
“As a lunar scientist,” Dr. Hanna said. “I am excited about this mission because we’re going to have humans, robots, and all these rovers on the moon exploring the surface, collecting all kinds of new data and samples that will be brought back to Earth for us to study here in the lab.”
Among Dr. Hanna’s projects, one of the current ones is the Lunar Compact Infrared Imaging System or L-CIRiS. It is a thermal camera, which she said will go to the South Pole of the moon and will map cold temperatures, potentially yielding the finding of water, ice and other volatiles. So, for a long-term mission, Dr. Hanna said that locating those resources will be crucial to send and keep astronauts longer on the moon, which is one of Artemis’s primary goals.
Nearly 30% of NASA employees at Kennedy Space Center are UCF alumni, and these Knights play important roles directly or indirectly in Artemis I – a mission also aiming to put the first woman and the first person of color on the moon.
In June 2021, President Biden released an executive order calling on the Government to promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in the work environment. NASA adopted the idea that success means including everyone, making inclusion one of its new core values.
Tiffaney Miller Alexander, NASA’s Chief, Medical and Environmental Services Division staff, earned all her degrees, including a doctorate in industrial engineering from UCF.
The UCF alumna oversees different branches in her position, such as the Aerospace Medicine and Occupational Health, Environmental Assurance, and Environmental Management branches. They all ensure the protection and wellness of the Kennedy Space Center workforce and maintain a healthy balance between technology and the environment.
As an African American woman, Dr. Alexander said she is enthusiastic about inclusion in this mission and that the program touches her heart differently.
“It is something special to me,” Alexander said. “Something big and great, something bigger than you, and something that will have a massive impact. It is inspiring to our future generation, who will be able to see and identify with the crew members who flew to the moon.”
Over the mission’s course, Orion will travel 280 thousand miles from Earth and 40 thousand miles beyond the moon’s far side. It is farther than any spacecraft built for humans has ever flown.
Orion will stay in space longer than any human spacecraft without docking to a space station, and it will return home faster and hotter than ever when entering the Earth’s atmosphere. It will splash down on Dec. 11 in the Pacific Ocean.
Orion’s journey will last 26 days, but the rocket had already impressed even the experienced NASA administrator, Bill Nelson, who got amazed by the acclaimed launch.
“It was the biggest flame I’ve ever seen,” Nelson said. “It is the most acoustical shock wave that I’ve ever experienced.”
