Jared Isaacman (Image: Getty)
NASA administrator Jared Isaacman admitted there was a brief moment of concern during the Artemis 2 Moon launch.
Speaking during a press conference at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, he confirmed there was a “partial loss of comms” about 51 minutes into the flight.
He said: “The rocket lifted off the pad with 8.8 million pounds of thrust, carrying the Orion spacecraft and the Artemis II crew out to Earth orbit and beginning America’s grand return to the moon.
“About 51 minutes into the flight, during a planned handover between satellites, the Orion spacecraft underwent a communications issue, leading to a temporary partial loss of comms.
“The uplink from CapCom to the crew was being heard by the crew, but we could not hear the responses for a brief period of time.
“There were no issues with the vehicle itself. Comms with the crew have been restored. We’re actively working on the issue, and we’ll keep you informed.”
“The Orion spacecraft has successfully separated from the core stage and its solar arrays have been deployed as planned. Soon, the crew will execute the apogee raise burn, placing the spacecraft into a stable high Earth orbit as we prepare for the translunar injection and the journey into cislunar space.”
Nasa’s first manned Moon mission in more than 50 years will take astronauts deeper into space than any human has gone before.
The 322-foot rocket, carrying four crew members, successfully launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida at 6.36pm local time (11.36pm BST).
The four astronauts reached orbit ahead of circling the Earth for about 25 hours before catapulting towards the moon.
Five minutes into the flight, Commander Reid Wiseman said: “We have a beautiful moonrise, we’re headed right at it.”
The elite team had entered the capsule several hours earlier where they will remain for the next 10 days with about as much room as a small camper van.
Prior to them boarding, more than 700,000 gallons of fuel (2.6 million litres) was loaded into the spacecraft.
As they headed to the launch pad, the three Americans and one Canadian waved and shaped their hands into hearts to well-wishers.
Commander Reid Wiseman shouted to the crowd: “It’s a great day for us. It’s a great day for this team.”
The so-called lunar flyby around the Moon will send the crew some 252,000 miles (406,000 kilometres) into space before returning to Earth.
The current record for the furthest spaceflight is about 248,000 miles, held by members of the Apollo 13 lunar mission in 1970, which was hit by technical problems.