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Artemis II Is Go — Humanity’s Return to the Moon · Space News Today

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  Welcome to Astronomy Daily, season 5,
• 0:03
  episode 79. I'm Anna.
• 0:06
  >> And I'm Avery. And today, today is the
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  day.
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  >> It really is. 54 years. That's how long
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  humanity has been Earthbound, locked
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  inside our cozy corner of the solar
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  system. No human has ventured beyond low
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  Earth orbit since Apollo 17 touched down
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  on the moon in December 1972.
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  But last night that changed. Four
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  astronauts are on their way to the moon.
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  >> Today's episode is a special Aremis 2
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  edition. We're going deep on the launch,
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  on the history being made right now, and
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  on what's coming next for this crew.
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  Plus, because the universe has a flare
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  for the dramatic, the pink moon rose
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  over Earth right as they lifted off.
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  >> You honestly couldn't write it. Let's
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  get into it. At 6:35 p.m. Eastern time
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  on Wednesday, April the 1st, yes, April
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  Fool's Day, NASA's Aremis 2 mission
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  lifted off from launch complex 39B at
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  the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
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  >> And for the record, absolutely not a
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  joke.
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  >> Definitely not. The 322
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  foot tall orange and white space launch
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  system, the SLS, vaulted off the pad
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  with 8.8 8 million pounds of liftoff
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  thrust. The solid rocket boosters alone
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  provided more than 7 million pounds of
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  that, burning out just 2 minutes after
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  launch when the stack was already 29 m
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  high.
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  >> 29 m in 2 minutes. That's extraordinary.
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  >> It is. And barely 10 minutes after those
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  engines first ignited, Artemis 2 was in
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  orbit. The launch was nearly flawless.
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  Only minor battery and communications
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  range issues briefly concerned ground
• 1:59
  crews, and those were resolved without
• 2:01
  drama.
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  >> The crew are safe. They're in great
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  spirits. NASA administrator Jared
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  Isaacman confirmed that in the
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  post-launch briefing. He called it a
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  defining moment, not just for NASA, but
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  for everyone who believes in
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  exploration.
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  >> And this is genuinely historic. The last
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  time human beings headed moonward was
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  December 7th, 1972
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  before any of the four Artemis 2 crew
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  members were born.
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  >> That really puts it into perspective.
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  >> After reaching orbit, Orion deployed its
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  solar array wings and the crew
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  immediately began transitioning the
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  spacecraft from launch to flight
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  operations. They ran through checks on
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  life support, communications,
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  navigation, and then, as if that wasn't
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  enough, pilot Victor Glover got to take
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  the spacecraft for a manual test drive.
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  >> A test drive in a spacecraft around
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  Earth.
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  >> 70 minutes of hand flying the Orion
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  capsule, which has been officially named
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  Integrity, maneuvering around the now
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  separated upper stage of the SLS. Lovers
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  verdict. And I'm paraphrasing here
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  because we love him. This flies very
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  nicely, very precise.
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  >> Excellent review, five stars.
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  >> So, as we record this on Thursday, April
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  2nd, right now, today, the crew of
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  Artemis 2 is completing the final checks
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  before the most critical maneuver of the
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  mission so far.
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  >> The trans lunar injection burn, TLI.
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  This is the moment they leave Earth's
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  orbit.
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  >> Exactly. If all systems pass inspection
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  and mission controllers at Houston's
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  Johnson Space Center will be
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  scrutinizing every data point, Belfire
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  Orion's Europeanbuilt service module
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  engine for approximately 6 minutes
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  around 8:00 p.m. Eastern tonight.
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  >> 6 minutes to change everything.
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  >> That burn will accelerate Orion to about
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  24,500
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  mph escape velocity. At that speed,
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  Earth's gravity is still exerting just
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  enough pull that if something went wrong
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  and the engine couldn't fire again, the
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  spacecraft would remain on what's called
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  a free return trajectory,
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  >> meaning the moon's gravity would sling
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  them back towards Earth automatically.
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  >> Precisely. It's a beautiful piece of
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  physics and a critical safety feature.
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  The crew isn't just being brave. The
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  mission is engineered so that even in a
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  worstc case scenario, the moon becomes
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  the mechanism that brings them home.
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  >> And if the checks don't pass,
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  >> mission controllers retain the option to
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  command Orion home early. Premature end
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  to this test flight, but a safe one.
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  That's what Artemis 2 is, a test flight.
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  Every system is being validated for the
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  crews who will follow.
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  >> We'll be watching that TLI burn very
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  closely tonight. Let's talk about the
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  four people making this journey because
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  beyond the technology, beyond the
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  rocket, this mission is about them and
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  about what their presence means.
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  >> Commander Reed Wisman, pilot Victor
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  Glover, mission specialist Christina
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  from NASA, and mission specialist
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  Jeremy Hansen from the Canadian Space
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  Agency.
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  >> And this crew is making history in ways
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  that go well beyond just going to the
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  moon. Victor Glover will become the
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  first person of color to travel beyond
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  low Earth orbit. Christina Coch will be
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  the first woman to fly to the moon's
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  vicinity. And Jeremy Hansen will be the
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  first non-American citizen to venture
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  that far from Earth.
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  >> Every one of those firsts is
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  significant. And they're all happening
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  on the same flight.
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  >> The World Air Sports Federation, the
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  FAI, is already preparing to ratify what
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  could be multiple spaceflight world
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  records. The mission's planned
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  trajectory will take Orion to a high
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  point of around 70,000 km above Earth.
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  The current altitude record for a crude
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  spacecraft in Earth orbit stands at just
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  1369
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  km set by Gemini 11 back in 1966.
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  >> They're going to absolutely shatter
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  that. And the record for the farthest
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  any human has ever been from Earth is
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  currently held by the Apollo 13 crew,
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  248,655
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  m. Artemis 2 is expected to go farther.
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  >> I keep thinking about Victor Glover
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  saying he just wants to find the quiet
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  moments in all of this, to be present,
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  to actually feel it.
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  >> He said the biggest challenge would be
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  immersing himself in the moment because
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  it'll be over so quickly. That kind of
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  reflection from someone living what the
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  rest of us can only dream about. That's
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  something special.
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  >> Special is hardly the word for it, but I
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  guess we don't have anything better. We
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  could do with a new word to use on
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  occasions like this.
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  >> So, what does the next 10 days look like
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  for Reed, Victor, Christina, and Jeremy?
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  >> Once that TLA burn fires tonight,
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  they're on a roughly 4-day journey
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  outbound. Gravity will slow them down
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  steadily from nearly 25,000 mph all the
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  way down to about 3,400 mph. And it
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  won't be until they're about 41,000 m
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  from the moon that lunar gravity takes
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  over and starts pulling them forward
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  again. That transition is called the
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  Lraange point and it's where the moon
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  effectively claims them. Day six of the
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  mission, that's Monday, April 6th, the
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  crew will reach the moon's neighborhood,
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  approaching from the western lunar
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  hemisphere.
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  >> They'll come within approximately 4,000
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  m from the lunar surface, close enough
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  to see detail, far enough to swing
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  around on that free return ark, and
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  they'll be among the first humans ever
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  to lay eyes on parts of the moon's far
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  side.
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  >> The far side, the side that never faces
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  Earth. No human has seen it directly
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  since the Apollo era. The conditions
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  during the flyby should create long
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  shadows across the surface. Sunrise
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  style lighting that reveals ridges,
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  crater rims, and depth that full
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  illumination normally hides. The
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  photographs from this flyby are going to
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  be extraordinary.
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  >> Here's a thought. I wonder if they'll
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  see the alien moon bases. Maybe we can
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  finally put that story to bed for once
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  and for all.
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  >> You love your conspiracy theories, don't
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  you, Avery? Let's move on.
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  >> And then they come home. Then they come
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  home, a journey of more than 96 hours
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  back to Earth with a splashdown in the
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  Pacific Ocean planned for Friday, April
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  10th. That re-entry will be at 25,000
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  mph. And Orion will use a skip entry
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  technique, dipping into the atmosphere,
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  bouncing back into space, then coming in
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  again, bleeding off speed and heat in
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  stages. We'll be covering every step of
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  it right here on Astronomy Daily.
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  >> Here's something that didn't get a lot
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  of attention in all the launch
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  excitement, and we think it deserves its
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  moment. The hitchhikers.
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  >> About 5 hours after launch, a series of
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  tiny satellites, cubats, roughly the
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  size of a shoe box, deployed from the
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  Aremis 2 spacecraft at one minute
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  intervals. four of them supplied by
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  space agencies from Germany, South
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  Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Argentina.
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  >> That's genuinely international. This
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  isn't just an American mission. It's a
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  mission that's carrying science from
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  four continents into deep space.
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  >> Germany's contribution is called Teelis,
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  and it's studying how space affects
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  electrical components that could be used
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  in future lunar vehicles. Think of it as
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  stress testing the hardware that might
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  one day drive a rover across the moon.
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  >> And then there's the one I find
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  absolutely fascinating. Krad Cube
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  Cube contains humanlike tissue organ on
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  a chip technology designed to measure
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  the effects of space radiation as the
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  spacecraft passes through the Van Allen
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  belts. Those are the two zones of
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  intense radiation that surround Earth
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  produced by trapped solar particles.
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  >> So, we're essentially sending a tiny
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  laboratory of human tissue through the
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  most radioactive region near Earth to
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  understand what that does to biology,
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  >> which directly informs how we protect
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  future crews, not just on Artemis 3 and
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  beyond, but eventually on missions to
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  Mars. It's one of those stories where
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  the scale of what's being deployed is
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  tiny, but the implications are enormous.
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  >> The universe in a shoe box.
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  >> We can't close today's episode without
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  acknowledging the cosmic coincidence
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  that made last night feel almost
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  scripted.
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  >> The pink moon. April's full moon, known
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  as the pink moon, reached its peak at
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  10:12 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday night,
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  just hours after the Aremis 2 launch
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  window opened, the moon itself rose full
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  and luminous over the eastern horizon.
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  >> Humanity launched towards the moon under
• 11:15
  a full moon. I mean, come on. The pink
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  moon gets its name from the wild flower
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  called moss pink or flocks subulada
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  which blooms across North America around
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  this time each spring. Various
• 11:28
  indigenous communities have their own
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  names for it. The flower moon, the
• 11:32
  windbreak moon, the frog moon.
• 11:35
  >> And tonight, Thursday, April 2nd, it's
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  still visible. If you're out after dark,
• 11:40
  look east at dusk. It'll be hard to
• 11:42
  miss. For our southern hemisphere
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  listeners, and there are plenty of you,
• 11:47
  look north toward the moon rising in
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  your eastern sky. The same moon our four
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  astronauts are right now h hurtling
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  toward at thousands of miles hour.
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  >> That shared view, us looking up, them
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  looking down, is one of my favorite
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  things about space exploration. We're
• 12:05
  all part of it.
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  >> That's our special Artemis 2 launch day
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  edition of Astronomy Daily. What a day
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  to be alive and what a day to be
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  listening.
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  >> We'll be back tomorrow with the latest
• 12:16
  from the mission covering that TLI burn
• 12:19
  result, any updates from the crew aboard
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  Integrity, and whatever else the
• 12:23
  universe decides to throw at us.
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  >> If today's episode moved you, if you
• 12:28
  felt something when that rocket left the
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  pad, share it. Tell someone. This is a
• 12:33
  moment worth talking about. from Anna
• 12:36
  and Avery at Astronomy Daily. Keep
• 12:39
  looking up
• 12:39
  >> and to read Victor, Christina, and
• 12:42
  Jeremy. Safe travels. We'll be watching
• 12:46
  >> Daily
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  Stories.
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  Stories told.
• 13:04
  Stories for told.