The Artemis II moon mission rocket has been launched. That happened at 6:35 a.m. local time from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It is the first manned moon mission in more than fifty years. Three Americans and a Canadian took off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard the Orion capsule, which was launched into orbit by the SLS moon rocket. From there, the astronauts travel to the moon, fly around it in a wide arc and land back on Earth after ten days. The launch is step two in the now adjusted Artemis program, with which the US not only wants to put American astronauts on the moon in 2028, but also wants to return regularly in the years that follow.
Who’s coming?
The crew includes four astronauts, three of whom are delivering firsts: pilot Victor Glover, the first lunar traveler of color, and mission specialists Christina Hammock Koch and Jeremy Hansen, the first woman and the first Canadian, respectively, to go to the moon. The mission commander is NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman. For each of the Americans this is their second space flight, for the Canadian his first. The diversity among astronauts is a holdover from the period before the Trump administration’s DOGE interventions, which ended diversity programs in agencies like NASA.
What’s the plan?
From launch pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center, where the previous (unmanned) Artemis flight also took off, SLS ignites its rocket engines. During the first two minutes and twenty seconds, the first rocket stage accelerates together with the two solid-fuel rockets on either side of the rocket, after which the two boosters disconnect and the first stage burns for another six minutes. When it also disconnects, the Orion capsule with the four astronauts on board will rotate in a low orbit around the Earth, still attached to the second stage: the interim cryogenic propulsion internship or ICPS. It pushes the capsule with a second burn to a higher orbit, where a circuit around the earth takes twenty-four hours.
Before the ICPS thruster crashes to the ground, pilot Victor Glover takes the opportunity to practice some special operations. He will disconnect Orion from ICPS, rotate the capsule and carefully reapproach the second stage a few times. The astronauts practice with one for about two hours rendezvouslinking two spaceships; a maneuver on which future Artemis missions rely. After two hours, the astronauts say goodbye to ICPS and extensively test the Orion capsule: does the propulsion, communications, navigation work?
After about a day in orbit, the translunar injection place: a big boost from Orion’s engine that gives the capsule the right speed to reach the moon after four days, fly well around it, and return safely to Earth. it is a so-called free return trajectory; The return flight no longer requires an engine. At the end of the journey, Orion returns to the atmosphere, where the heat shield protects the astronauts. Orion is expected to land in the Pacific Ocean, where the crew will be picked up by a ship. Mission accomplished.
What will the astronauts do?
At its core, Artemis II is a test flight, a preparatory mission for an American return to the lunar surface, with the prospect of a future trip to Mars. The majority of the scientific goals are therefore about the physical and mental health of the four astronauts, and how they react to a long journey through empty space. A trip to Mars takes much longer than the roughly ten days that the Artemis astronauts spend in space: about nine monthsalthough the travel time is highly dependent on the nature of the mission and the position of the red planet relative to Earth.
To measure the effect of such isolation, the astronauts wear a kind of smartwatches that measure their sleep patterns and activity. This data can be used to better organize future space missions for the comfort of astronauts. Even more futuristic are the Avatar chips that travel along: a kind of glass plate, the size of a USB stick, containing an artificial mini organ of each of the astronauts. Such a mini organ has been grown from bone marrow, which the astronauts donated prior to the trip. The ‘organs on a chip’ should predict how astronauts will respond to weightlessness and increased radiation levels. The tests during the flight of Artemis II should show whether this is actually feasible.
In addition to the work within the Orion capsule, Artemis II also makes numerous other research possible. During the second orbit around the Earth, in a high orbit, Orion will release four CubeSats: small cube-shaped satellites of a maximum of ten centimeters in size. This type of satellite usually piggybacks on larger launches. The four stowaways come from researchers from Germany, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Argentina.
The moon itself is therefore not the scientific focus of the mission, although the astronauts will get a rare look at the far side of the moon. During their flight around the moon, about 6,500 km away, they will have the opportunity to study the moon’s surface and take photos. They will be the first people to see the moon up close with their own eyes since 1972.
Why has the Artemis plan changed recently?
Originally, the third mission of the Artemis program would put astronauts on the moon, but… in March the US space agency announced it was reviewing those plans. Actually landing on the moon is based on a new lunar lander, it Human Landing Systemthat according to a report of NASA’s safety panel is not yet ready for safe use.
Commercial space giants Blue Origin and SpaceX are currently developing their own version of such a lunar lander on behalf of NASA. In the modified lunar program, Artemis III will be a rendezvous testing both lunar landers in low Earth orbit to ensure a successful lunar landing with Artemis IV. That mission should be the prelude to a more permanent American presence on the moon, in the form of building a moon base. This change of course is thanks to the American president. “We’re going to build President Trump’s moon base,” NASA CEO Jared Isaacman told Fox News.
