The Artemis 1 rocket is NASA’s unmanned return mission to the moon and back, it is a test vehicle for the Artemis program. The mission will eventually lead to astronauts returning to the moon. The objective is to establish a permanent lunar base to form a gateway for further deep space exploration including manned missions to Mars. But anyway, manned missions to Mars are at least 5-10 years away. What we’re interested in is… can NASA’s most powerful rocket since the Saturn V Appolo Missions out-accelerate a supercar?
We can throw a lot of stats at you, being lazy journalists as we are, we advise you to follow the link to the Artemis NASA website to get your geek cheeks full of facts. But the one fact that you should know is this… Artemis 1’s rocket engines produce a thrust of 8.8 million pounds (4 million kilograms) at launch. NASA officially says the rocket can accelerate from 0-500mph in just two seconds. Read it and weep electric hypercar owners.
Artemis 1 successfully launched from Kennedy Space Center on November 16, 2022, at 06:47:44 UTC (01:47:44 EST). Space geek YouTube channel Cosmic Perspective best captured the spectacle with some stunning videography and sound.
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