Latest / DEEP INSIGHT / Artemis II crew preparing for 10-day, 600,000-mile mission set to launch April 1

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Artemis II crew preparing for 10-day, 600,000-mile mission set to launch April 1 · DEEP INSIGHT

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Well, it's the first time NASA astronauts will orbit the
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  Speaker 1: Moon in more than a half a century. NASA's Artemis
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: two mission gearing up to launch from Kennedy Space Center,
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  Speaker 1: sending four astronauts on a bold ten day journey around
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  Speaker 1: our closest cosmic neighbor. But this isn't just a joy
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  Speaker 1: ride folks through space. For the first time, NASA will
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  Speaker 1: actually test Oriyan's life support systems with a crew inside,
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  Speaker 1: pushing boundaries, taking risks, and setting the stage for humanity's
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: next giant leap right now. The launch is targeted for
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  Speaker 1: six twenty four pm on April first, with a two
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  Speaker 1: hour window. Leading the charge powerhouse crew including Commander Read Weisman,
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  Speaker 1: pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialists Christina Cook and Jeremy Hanson.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: We heard for them just moments ago during a pre
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  Speaker 1: launch event. Take a listen.
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: I gotta tell you.
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  Speaker 1: I am fired up my family. It's hard to say goodbye.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: We'll see him again tomorrow, but we're all fired up
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  Speaker 1: to go do this.
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  Speaker 3: Our leadership is communicating very well. They're communicating well at
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  Speaker 3: the top, all the way down to the crew life
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  Speaker 3: and the training team in between. This team is ready
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  Speaker 3: to go fly this mission.
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  Speaker 1: Let's bring in our Andrew Dimbert, also our contributor in
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  Speaker 1: astrophysicist Hachem Uhlas say he all right, guys, let's start
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  Speaker 1: with you Andrew, and let's just kind of break down
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  Speaker 1: what this mission is all about. And I mean, yes,
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  Speaker 1: they're excited. The adrenaline's pumping. They can't wait to make history.
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  Speaker 1: But you know they've got work to do when they're
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  Speaker 1: up there.
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  Speaker 3: That they do. Let's talk about some of that excitement, right.
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  Speaker 3: You heard some of the soundbites there from that press
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  Speaker 3: conference just moments ago, and the excitement is really palpable.
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  Speaker 3: The astronauts say that they are ready to go, but
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  Speaker 3: more importantly, they say they're pretty confident that this launch window,
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  Speaker 3: this April first launch window, will go on as scheduled.
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  Speaker 3: And remember that window is between April first and April six.
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  Speaker 3: They say that they recently just completed a flight readiness
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  Speaker 3: review and Kira there were no surprises, so they do
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  Speaker 3: expect to move forward on schedule here. But again, we're
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  Speaker 3: talking about four astronauts, four human lives here, so NASA's
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  Speaker 3: not going to take any chances. As you mentioned, this
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  Speaker 3: is a ten day journey six hundred thousand miles. Even
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  Speaker 3: though this mission isn't landing on the Moon, it's a
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  Speaker 3: lunar flyby, there's still so many components here and so
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  Speaker 3: much testing on equipment and science that they want to
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  Speaker 3: do while they're in space, because the ultimate goal here
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  Speaker 3: is to land on the Moon, but then get to Mars.
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  Speaker 1: Okay and Haikeen, this is where I want to bring
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  Speaker 1: you in where we can get all scientific and techie
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: and all that good stuff. I guess for the first time,
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  Speaker 1: NASA's going to test O Ryan's life support systems with
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  Speaker 1: this crew inside, tell us about the significance of that,
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  Speaker 1: and then kind of push us forward to the ultimate
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  Speaker 1: goal here.
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, NASA's being very careful here, right. They had the
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  Speaker 2: Artemis one mission, which tested a lot of technical aspects
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  Speaker 2: of the craft and the but here now you before
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  Speaker 2: they did Artemus one, there were a lot of failed launches. Right,
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  Speaker 2: So now we're at a point where they're ready to
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  Speaker 2: put humans on board. And why do they not just
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  Speaker 2: go straight to the Moon and land. Well, you want
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: to do things and steps. Astronauts have to live on
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  Speaker 2: this craft in close quarters, They have to eat, they
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  Speaker 2: have to use the bathroom, they have to breathe, right,
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  Speaker 2: So all of that is going through its tests. And also,
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  Speaker 2: you know, if you're going to have humans going back
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  Speaker 2: and forth to the Moon, you're not going to be
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  Speaker 2: in Earth's protective atmosphere and magnetosphere. So radiation is the
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  Speaker 2: biggest challenges. You know, the Sun could flare or have
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  Speaker 2: a coronal mass ejection while people are out there. So
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  Speaker 2: there's also a special radiation protection room that they're able
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  Speaker 2: to test out. So, you know, instead of trying to
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  Speaker 2: do everything at once, they made sure the craft worked
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  Speaker 2: as it's supposed to. It's a very automated craft, so
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  Speaker 2: they made sure the software work as it's supposed to.
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  Speaker 2: Now you're going to make sure it can keep humans alive,
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  Speaker 2: keep them safe, allow them to thrive. They have a
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  Speaker 2: lot of new engineering. And then finally, once you get
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  Speaker 2: that done, and they're also going to do some tests
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  Speaker 2: in orbit around Earth. Right, they have to do with
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  Speaker 2: docking and undocking. You know, eventually, now you then put
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: boots on the surface of the Moon.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, and so they're actually going to see parts of
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  Speaker 1: the Moon that humans haven't seen up close since Apollo seventeen, right,
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  Speaker 1: So what's so cool about that. What is it that
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  Speaker 1: they could see that would be you know, exciting.
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  Speaker 2: Well, you know, when we're talking about the dark side
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  Speaker 2: of the Moon as they call it, it's not dark.
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  Speaker 2: They're actually going during the time period when it's fully
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  Speaker 2: illuminated by the sun. The mission is designed that way
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  Speaker 2: for the launch windows to be when the far side
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  Speaker 2: of the Moon is illuminated. But here's the thing. Scientifically,
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  Speaker 2: the near side of the Moon is geologically different from
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  Speaker 2: the far side of the moon, so whatever they see
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  Speaker 2: is going to be a different face than anyone sees
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  Speaker 2: on the ground. But also, you know, I don't know
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  Speaker 2: what exact scientific observations they have, but what I do
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  Speaker 2: know is that they've been working with geologists in order
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  Speaker 2: to under stand particular landmarks that they will be able
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  Speaker 2: to identify, and from there they're gonna do something. I
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  Speaker 2: don't know what that is. But the thing that's beautiful
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  Speaker 2: about this you heard the astronauts invite the world to
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  Speaker 2: join them. And this is also an incident. This is
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  Speaker 2: also an event of national pride. The boosters have America
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  Speaker 2: two fifty on it. And it turns out that the
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  Speaker 2: organization that I lead, the Astro Society, we're leading America
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  Speaker 2: celebration of two hundred and fifty years of astronomy and
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  Speaker 2: space fairing in our space program. So we're at Astrosociety
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  Speaker 2: dot org. So this is all one big effort here
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  Speaker 2: on the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of America's founding,
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  Speaker 2: where we're returning to space for the first time in
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  Speaker 2: over fifty years, and we're doing it in a big way,
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  Speaker 2: and these astronauts are at the forefront of it.
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  Speaker 1: Here we go. I hear the chanting USA right now.
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  Speaker 1: You has sa USA, Hikeeme Andrew. Thank you both so much, guys,
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  Speaker 1: and be sure, of course, to tune in to us
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  Speaker 1: here on ABC News Live. Next week, we are going
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  Speaker 1: to have special coverage for the Artemis two mission to
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  Speaker 1: the Moon. You won't want to miss a minute of it.