Science News Roundup: NASA's Artemis moon rocket's main fuel tanks filled for debut launch; Lab-grown meat cleared for human consumption by U.S. regulator and more

The licence was issued to Spaceport Cornwall. NASA's Artemis rocketship on course for moon after epic launch With a dash of launch-pad heroics and 8.8 million pounds (4 million kg) of thrust, NASA's colossal new rocket soared into space for the first time early on Wednesday, sending a next-generation capsule on a crewless voyage around the moon and back 50 years after the final Apollo lunar mission.

Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

NASA's Artemis moon rocket's main fuel tanks filled for debut launch

Ground teams at Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday filled the main fuel tanks of NASA's towering, next-generation moon rocket for its debut launch, a flight to kick off the U.S. space agency's Artemis program 50 years after the last Apollo lunar mission. The 32-story Space Launch System (SLS) rocket was due to blast off from Cape Canaveral in Florida at 1:04 a.m. EST (0604 GMT) on Wednesday to send its Orion capsule on a 25-day test flight around the moon and back without astronauts aboard.

Lab-grown meat cleared for human consumption by U.S. regulator

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the first time cleared a meat product grown from animal cells for human consumption, the agency announced on Wednesday. UPSIDE Foods, a company that makes cell-cultured chicken by harvesting cells from live animals and using the cells to grow meat in stainless-steel tanks, will be able to bring its products to market once it has been inspected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), said a release from the FDA.

Britain issues first spaceport licence ahead of maiden satellite launch

Britain issued its first spaceport licence on Wednesday, paving the way for the country's maiden satellite launch later this year as it looks to become Europe's leading space industry player. The licence was issued to Spaceport Cornwall.

NASA's Artemis rocketship on course for moon after epic launch

With a dash of launch-pad heroics and 8.8 million pounds (4 million kg) of thrust, NASA's colossal new rocket soared into space for the first time early on Wednesday, sending a next-generation capsule on a crewless voyage around the moon and back 50 years after the final Apollo lunar mission. The U.S. space agency's much-delayed and highly anticipated launch from Florida kicked off Apollo's successor program, Artemis, aimed at returning astronauts to the lunar surface this decade and establishing a sustainable base there as a stepping stone to future human exploration of Mars.

Arianespace to ramp up to full Ariane 6 rocket launch rate in 2026 - CEO

Europe's Arianespace expects to launch its first Ariane 6 rocket by the end of the fourth quarter of 2023, but it will take until 2026 to ramp up to the full rate of nine to 11 per year, the company's chief executive said on Wednesday. Arianespace, a rival to Elon Musk's SpaceX that is majority-owned by a joint venture of and Safran, has secured 29 launches for the delayed Ariane 6 programme, 18 of them for an Amazon.com project to beam broadband internet.

(With inputs from agencies.)