BBC Pidgin of Wednesday, 16 November 2022

Source: BBC

Wetin to know about di space rocket wey Nasa launch to return humans to di moon

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Di American space agency Nasa don successfully launch im biggest ever rocket enta space from Cape Canaveral for Florida.

Di 100m-tall Artemis vehicle climb up di sky for one ogbonge mix of light and sound.

Im objective na to shoot astronaut capsule in di direction of di Moon.

Artemis na Nasa project to land pipo on di Moon for di first time since 1972.

Nobody fly di spacecraft, wey dem call Orion , but if everytin work as e suppose work, pipo go climb aboard for future missions wey go enta di lunar surface.

Wednesday flight dey come afta dem bin don attempt to launch am two times for August and September but dem later abort mission sake of technical challenges.

But dis time dem don overcome di issues and dem give di Space Launch System, di "go" to begin ascend from di Kennedy Space Center at 01:47 local time (06:47 GMT).

Di first two hours dey critical – e go get some essential manoeuvres as di rocket dey comot from Earth orbit and head to di Moon.

But to get di rocket off di ground na di first big step – and di start of humanity to return to di Moon.

Why Nasa wan return to di Moon?

One major talking point around di Artemis launch na why now - and why di Moon wen we don already go dia before?

In Nasa own words, dem dey “go back to di Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and inspiration for new generation of explorers”.

Di long-term goal of di Artemis programme na to establish a space station and one lunar base camp on di Moon, so astronauts fit eventually spend much longer periods of time wen dem go dia.

Afta dat, di space agency wan do im "Moon to Mars" programme – wit di current goal to get pipo on Mars for di next 20 years. (Di journey to di Moon dey take three days but to reach Mars dey far longer and na tricky goal.)

For di short term, 10 shoebox-sized satellites dem dey call CubeSats go drop off once Orion dey near di Moon.

Dem go carry out different science experiments and technology demonstrations for deep space. 

Technology don improve well-well since di Apollo programme of 1961, and dis one mean say e get greater chance dis time around to learn even more about di Moon and space in general.