Artemis II crew hails ‘golden age of space travel’ as they prepare for return | Nasa

As the Artemis II crew prepares to return to Earth Friday after their historic 10-day lunar flyby mission, astronauts celebrated their lunar expedition and hailed the “golden age of space travel,” saying they hoped the historic mission would inspire the next generation.

Speaking Thursday evening aboard the Artemis II, the crew answered questions from members of Congress as they prepared for their return to Earth.

The mood at Thursday’s news conference was joyful as politicians from both sides congratulated the astronauts on their journey while asking questions about their experiences and its ability to inspire others.

The record-breaking nature of the mission was also present in the minds of several members of the crew. “It’s incredible to think that we could put together an international team led by the United States of America and aim for a lasting presence on the Moon and Mars and then be able to achieve that,” Commander Reid Wiseman said, calling the mission “incredible.” “There is nothing this nation cannot do when it has a vision. »

“We are currently living in the golden age of space travel,” Wiseman added. “There is unlimited potential here. »

Several members of Congress asked how the Artemis II voyage could serve as inspiration, especially to younger generations. California Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren called the expedition “unifying in many ways,” asking the four-person crew what they hoped the public would take away from it.

“I hope we reconnect with the days when we first went to the Moon and started calling the great things that humanity has accomplished ‘moon shots’ and make that ‘moon shot’ our own,” said pilot Victor Glover, the first black man to travel beyond low Earth orbit. “There is nothing we cannot accomplish when we bring all of our differences together…and when we work on something great for the good of all.” »

The Artemis II crew members have already started packing up for their return to Earth after their lunar expedition. Earlier Thursday, NASA leaders outlined the precise logistics needed to get the crew home.

The return will see the Orion capsule traveling at nearly 24,000 mph before making a final splashdown several miles off the coast of San Diego. The operation requires multiple teams and careful coordination to safely extract the spacecraft’s crew.

Speaking at a news conference, NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya said: “To every engineer, to every technician who touched this machine, tomorrow belongs to you. The crew did their part. Now we must do ours.”

Jeff Radigan, the mission’s lead flight director, emphasized the precision required for re-entry, noting that the team has “less than one degree of angle” to follow the correct flight path. “Let’s not beat around the bush. We have to get this angle right or we won’t have a successful reentry,” he said.

Radigan outlined the timetable for the spacecraft’s return. The Orion Crew Module and Service Module are expected to separate at 4:33 p.m. Pacific Time (7:33 p.m. ET, 12:33 a.m. UK time), with the Service Module burning up in Earth’s atmosphere. This will be followed by a burn of the crew module at 4:37 p.m. PT and the Orion entry interface at 4:53 p.m. PST, which will cause a brief power outage. The Drogue parachutes are expected to deploy around 5:03 p.m. PT, followed by the main parachutes, before a final splashdown at 5:07 p.m. PT.

He added that the splashdown would occur far from the Southern California coast. “The path we’re coming in, I don’t expect it to be visible to people in California…We’re working with the War Department to recover the capsule there and it’s a pretty large exclusion zone, so I caution people…please avoid the area,” Radigan said.

“A lot of debris is falling and we are working with our recovery forces to make sure they don’t hit them,” he added.

The USS John P Murtha is prepared to assist in the recovery operations, which will take place in several stages and are expected to last between an hour and an hour and a half. “We have to begin an orderly shutdown of a number of systems, and the crew then has to orient themselves and start ‘securing’ the spacecraft so they can open the hatch, and that takes a little time,” Radigan said.

He added that recovery crews must initially stay a safe distance away due to the debris. “Once we confirm that there is no risk…which takes a few minutes, they will then be able to approach the spacecraft and begin the process of extracting the crew,” Radigan said.

After extraction, the crew will undergo post-mission medical evaluations before being flown to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

Back on board Thursday evening, crew members spoke directly with their children and other young people interested in space exploration.

Glover said he and his wife were looking forward to “hunting and catching [the] dreams” of his four children. Addressing “future citizens,” Glover said, “I hope this mission gives you something that you can take and put in your pocket or in your heart or your mind, that you take with you…we want you to take that and build a vocabulary to explain the world to us.”

One of the most memorable experiences, according to several crew members, was seeing the lunar eclipse in person. Christina Koch, a mission specialist on the Artemis II crew, said the sight “left us speechless.” Canadian Space Agency mission specialist Jeremy Hansen seconded Koch’s remarks, adding, “I know you’ve seen pictures,” referring to images captured of the moon, “but it was really something.” »