NASA is shooting for the moon. A guide to the Artemis II mission

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — This is humanity’s first flight to the Moon since 1972.

In a return to Apollo, NASA’s Artemis II mission will send four astronauts on a lunar flyby. They will rush several thousand kilometers beyond the moon, turn around and then come straight back. No lap around the moon, no stopping for a moon walk – just a quick round trip lasting less than 10 days.

NASA promises more boot prints in gray lunar dust, but not before a few training missions. The next test flight of Artemis astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen is this time the first step towards colonizing the Moon.

Here’s a look at the Artemis II mission.

Artemis astronauts are a diverse and international crew

The Moon is about to welcome its first woman, its first person of color and its first non-American.

Koch already holds the record for the longest spaceflight by a woman. During her 328-day mission to the International Space Station in 2019 and 2020, she participated in the first all-female spacewalk.

Glover, a Navy test pilot, was the first Black astronaut to live and work aboard the space station in 2020 and 2021. He was also one of the first astronauts to launch with SpaceX.

Hansen, of the Canadian Space Agency, a former fighter pilot, is the only space recruit. Their commander is Wiseman, a retired Navy captain who lived aboard the space station in 2014 and later led NASA’s astronaut corps. They are between 47 and 50 years old.

The Space Launch System is more powerful than the Saturn V rocket

NASA’s new Space Launch System rocket measures 98 meters, shorter than the Apollo program’s Saturn V rocket, but more powerful at liftoff thanks to a pair of strap-on boosters. At the top of the rocket is the Orion capsule carrying the astronauts.

Made from salvaged space shuttle engines and other parts, the SLS uses the same fuel – liquid hydrogen – as the shuttles. Hydrogen leaks repeatedly grounded the shuttles as well as the first SLS rocket test without astronauts on board in 2022. More than three years later, Artemis II suffered the same hydrogen leaks during a refueling exercise in February, missing the first launch window. A repeat of helium flow problems pushed the mission back to April.

How Artemis II will fly around the moon

After liftoff, astronauts will spend the first 25 hours circling Earth in a high, unbalanced orbit. They will use the separate upper stage as a target, directing their Orion capsule around it as docking practice for future lunar shots. Instead of sophisticated rangefinders, they will rely on their eyes to judge the gap, venturing no closer than 33 feet (10 meters) from the scene.

“Sometimes the simple things are the best,” Wiseman said.

If all goes as planned, Orion’s main engine will propel the crew to the moon about 244,000 miles (393,000 kilometers) away. This free-return trajectory made famous by Apollo 13 relies on the Moon and Earth’s gravity, minimizing fuel requirements.

On the sixth day of flight, Orion will reach its farthest point from Earth by traveling 5,000 miles (8,000 kilometers) beyond the moon. This will surpass the Apollo 13 distance record, making the Artemis astronauts the farthest travelers. After emerging from behind the moon, the crew will return directly home with a splashdown on flight day 10 – nine days, one hour and 46 minutes after liftoff.

What to expect during the Artemis flyby

The Artemis II crew will be able to see never-before-seen regions of the Moon’s far side, with the Moon appearing the size of a basketball at arm’s length during the closest part of the roughly six-hour flyby. They have examined maps and satellite images of the far side of the Moon and anticipate a photography frenzy. Their lunar mentor is NASA geologist Kelsey Young, who will monitor the flyby from Mission Control in Houston.

“The moon is such a unifying thing,” she said. “What we’re doing with this mission is going to bring this a little bit closer to everyone in the world.”

In addition to professional cameras, they will carry the latest smartphones. New NASA administrator Jared Isaacman added smartphones to the mission to take “inspiring” photos.

While NASA and private companies have focused over the years on the near side of the Moon – the side that constantly faces Earth – only China has planted landers on the far side. This makes astronauts’ observations of the far side of the Moon all the more valuable to NASA.

Artemis astronauts will return to Earth

Like Apollo, the Artemis mission ends with a return to its roots in the Pacific.

All eyes will be on Orion’s heat shield as the capsule plunges into the atmosphere. This is the part of the spacecraft that was hit hardest during the 2022 test flight, with charred pieces torn off. The heat shield is being refitted for future capsules but remains the original Artemis II design.

NASA limits exposure to heat during re-entry by shortening the capsule’s atmospheric descent. Navy recovery ships will be stationed off the coast of San Diego while Orion parachutes into the ocean.

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