Artemis II Mission Launches Successfully
At 6:36 p.m. Cape Canaveral time, NASA’s SLS rocket lifted off without incident with all four members of the Artemis II spacecraft on board. During the first few hours, Orion will complete its journey into Earth orbit and, throughout the first day, will perform critical navigation and systems tests. Around the third or fourth day, the spacecraft will begin its trajectory toward the Moon and pass through its sphere of gravitational influence. In total, the mission will last approximately 10 days.
The mission includes the first woman and first black person on a crewed mission to lunar orbit. The launch comes 53 years after Apollo 17, the last crewed mission to the Moon.
The Artemis II crew will not land on the Moon (this will happen on Artemis IV). Instead, their capsule will fly to altitudes between 6,000 and 9,000 kilometers above the surface of the far side of the Moon, circle it and begin the journey back to Earth. The primary goal of the mission is to demonstrate that the space agency has the technological capability to send people to the Moon safely and without incident.
Once this goal is achieved, NASA will begin preparations for further moon landings in the coming years, which will aim to establish the first lunar bases in history and, with them, the sustained and lasting presence of humans on the satellite.
The launch was successful and on schedule. The launch window opened on Wednesday, April 1 at 6:24 p.m. Eastern Time (EDT) and could have been extended by two hours, if necessary. NASA would have had five more days to attempt another launch.
Mission Details
The astronauts blasted off aboard a NASA SLS rocket and are traveling inside the Orion capsule, described as a spacecraft the size of a large pickup truck. They will orbit the Earth for at least two days to test the onboard instruments. Then they will line up the spacecraft to begin its journey to the Moon. On the fifth or sixth day of flight, the capsule should enter the sphere of influence of the Moon, where the satellite’s gravity is stronger than that of the Earth, and dock in its orbit.
When the spacecraft passes “behind” the moon, the most dangerous phase will begin. The crew will be out of contact with Earth for about 50 minutes due to interference from the Moon itself. During this crucial moment, the crew must capture images and data from the Moon, taking advantage of the far more advanced technology they have than was available during the Apollo era.
Once the return is complete, the capsule will return home, taking advantage of the Earth-Moon gravity field to save fuel. According to NASA estimates, on the tenth day of flight, the crew will be close to reaching the planet.
