NASA is preparing Artemis II to launch a mission to orbit the moon – National
NASA is putting the final touches on plans to launch the Artemis II mission on Wednesday, which will be the first crewed mission to enter lunar orbit since the Apollo missions 50 years ago.
Four astronauts will board the Orion spacecraft called Integrity for a nearly 10-day mission, which aims to “create a long-lasting presence on the moon and pave the way for human exploration of Mars.”
This mission will not land on the moon but will be a lunar flight, and is part of NASA’s multi-phase mission to return to the moon for a long time.
Part of the astronaut team making the trip is Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen of London, Ont., who is the first Canadian and non-American on the mission.
Calgary’s Jenni Gibbons will serve as Hansen’s backup if he can’t fly. He went through years of training similar to those in the rocket and during the mission, Gibbons will serve as a voice link in space from Earth.
The mission is planned to take astronauts farther from Earth than any human has ever been before.
Jeff Spaulding, director of NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems program, said at a press conference Tuesday that the crew is “in high spirits” ahead of tomorrow’s launch.
“I think everyone is happy and understands the importance of this launch,” he said. “Our team has worked amazingly over the past few weeks and months trying to get this car to where it is.
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“People are excited, and ready to continue this first chapter of our return to the moon since the 1970s.”
Spaulding also added that “sometimes people worry that we’re working hard to reach these milestones and things, but we’re really not. People love coming to work. They love doing this job and that’s why they’re here.”
Mark Burger, associate meteorologist with the Space Force’s 45th Weather Squadron, said conditions ahead of tomorrow’s launch appear to be “pretty good” for space.
“There is nothing here that calls for the entire window to be abandoned for any of these efforts,” he said.
The move comes after years of delays
The original Artemis II launch date was scheduled for November 2024, however, NASA administrator Bill Nelson announced that the launch date will be pushed to April 2026 after “NASA completed testing of the Orion crew capsule, made by Lockheed Martin, and its heat shield, which malfunctioned during re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere in 2022.”
This caused subsequent projects, Artemis III and IV, to be delayed again.
“We had some challenges, the team did an excellent job handling all of these situations in all of these situations,” said Spaulding.
He added that being able to do other applications “has really changed the demographics.”
The two-hour launch window is targeted before 6:24 pm EDT on Wednesday, April 1.
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