Sharjah24 – AFP: NASA launched the most powerful rocket ever built on a journey to the Moon on Wednesday, in a spectacular blaze of light and sound that marked the start of the space agency's new flagship program, Artemis.

The 32-story tall Space Launch System (SLS) blasted off from the storied Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 01:47 am (0647 GMT).

"We are going," tweeted the space agency.

Fixed to its top was the uncrewed Orion spaceship that will later separate and complete an orbit-and-a-half of Earth's nearest neighbor, in a test run for later flights that should see the first woman and first person of color touch down on lunar soil by the mid-2020s.

America last sent astronauts to the Moon during the Apollo era, from 1969-1972. This time it hopes to build a sustained presence -- including a lunar space station -- to help prepare for an eventual mission to Mars.

The launch came despite technical issues that ate into the two-hour launch window that opened at 1:04 am.