FLORIDA — It’s a sight that has captured imaginations and hearts around the world: The first images of the view of Earth from the Orion spacecraft as NASA’s Artemis program continues its mission.
The Artemis II team launched from Florida’s Cape Canaveral on Wednesday evening, cementing a historic moment for the manned lunar mission.
Wednesday’s launch marked the first piloted mission since the end of the Apollo program, in the 1970s..
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The photos, NASA said, were taken by NASA astronaut and Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman from one of the Orion spacecraft’s window after completing the translunar injection burn on April 2.
The image features two auroras (top right and bottom left) and zodiacal light (bottom right) is visible as the Earth eclipses the Sun. Venus is shown on the bottom right of the image, NASA said.
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Courtesy NASA
Excitement has been mounting as the first crewed test flight under NASA’s Artemis program is underway, NASA said.
Four Artemis II astronauts are flying aboard NASA’s Orion spacecraft around the moon and back, “as they test how the spacecraft’s systems operate in a deep space environment,” NASA said.
NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and CSA, or Canadian Space Agency, astronaut Jeremy Hansen lifted off at 6:35 p.m. on April 1 from launch pad 39B at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Real-time coverage continues throughout the mission on NASA’s YouTube channel. The agency also provides a separate live stream of views from the Orion spacecraft as bandwidth allows, as well as inside the capsule. In addition NASA is providing the latest mission imagery online.
The crew are participating in live conversations throughout the mission, which were scheduled prior to their departure from Earth. NASA will provide the exact times of each of these downlink events, as well as the latest mission coverage, on the Artemis blog.
To track Orion in space,click here.
This week, NASA answered frequently asked questions about the mission:
How long is the Artemis II mission?
“NASA’s Artemis II mission is an approximately 10-day journey around the moon including launch, a lunar flyby, and a safe splashdown off the coast of San Diego,” NASA said.
How far will Artemis II travel?
“Crew is expected to travel a total of 695,081 miles from launch to splashdown. The spacecraft will pass within 4,066 miles of the lunar surface during its closest approach and will reach a maximum distance of 252,757 miles from Earth, about 4,102 miles farther than Apollo 13,” NASA added.
When and where will the Artemis II crew and Orion spacecraft splashdown?
“The location and time of our Artemis II splashdown will continue to shift as mission milestones are reached. In the days leading up to splashdown, updates will be available on NASA’s website and in our daily news conferences. Mission media events are available on the agency’s website.
“NASA’s Artemis II mission is scheduled to splash down off the coast of San Diego at approximately 8:07 p.m. EDT (5:07 p.m. PDT) on Friday, April 10. Following splashdown, recovery teams will retrieve the crew using helicopters and deliver them to the USS John P. Murtha. Once aboard, the astronauts will undergo post-mission medical evaluations in the ship’s medical bay before traveling back to shore to meet with an aircraft bound for NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston,” NASA said.
What is the crew doing on this mission?
“Artemis II astronauts are putting the Orion spacecraft through a series of planned tests to evaluate systems, procedures, and performance in deep space. They will conduct manual spacecraft operations and monitor automated activities; evaluate Orion’s life-support, propulsion, power, thermal, and navigation systems; perform proximity operations activities; assess habitability and crew interfaces; and participate in science activities, including lunar surface observations and human health studies, that will inform science operations on future Moon missions. They also will practice mission-critical activities, including trajectory adjustments, communications at lunar distances, and piloting Orion during key phases of flight, culminating in a re-entry and splashdown to further validate the spacecraft’s performance with crew aboard,” NASA said.
Why do we need astronauts to view the Moon when we have robotic observers?
“Human eyes and brains are highly sensitive to subtle changes in color, texture, and other surface characteristics,” NASA explained. “Having astronaut eyes observe the lunar surface directly, in combination with the context of all the advances that scientists have made about the Moon over the last several decades, may uncover new discoveries and a more nuanced appreciation for the features on the surface of the Moon.”
What do the astronauts eat during the mission?
“The Artemis II crew has access to 189 unique menu items during their mission, including 10 different beverages like coffee and smoothies. Common food items include tortillas, nuts, barbeque beef brisket, cauliflower, macaroni and cheese, butternut squash, cookies, and chocolate. Food flying aboard Artemis II is designed to support crew health and performance during the mission around the Moon. Menu selections are developed with space food experts and the crew to balance calorie needs, hydration, and nutrient intake while accommodating individual preferences. For more information about their menu, visit here,” NASA said.
What are the goals of the Artemis II Mission?
” The Artemis II test flight will confirm the systems necessary to support astronauts in deep space exploration and prepare to establish a sustained presence on the Moon. The primary goal of Artemis II is a crewed test flight in lunar space. There are five main additional priorities for Artemis II:
Crew: Demonstrate the ability of systems and teams to sustain the flight crew in the flight environment, and through their return to earth.Systems: Demonstrate systems and operations essential to a crewed lunar campaign. This ranges from ground systems to hardware in space, and operations spanning from development to launch, flight, and recovery.Hardware and Data: Retrieve flight hardware and data, assessing performance for future missions.Emergency Operations: Demonstrate emergency system capabilities and validate associated operations to the extent practical, such as abort operations and rescue procedures, as needed.Data and Subsystems: Complete additional objectives to verify subsystems and validate data.
What is the Artemis II zero-gravity indicator and how was it selected?
“NASA’s Artemis II crew selected Rise as their zero-gravity indicator for the mission. A zero-gravity indicator is a small plush item that flies along with a crew to visually indicate when they are in space. Rise was designed by Lucas Ye from Mountain View, California, as a tribute to the iconic Earthrise moment from the Apollo 8 mission, which deeply resonated with the crew. Rise was fabricated by NASA’s Thermal Blanket Lab at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. NASA worked with the company Freelancer to hold a Moon Mascot Design Challenge to design the zero-gravity indicator for Artemis II, which drew more than 2,600 submissions from more than 50 countries, including from K-12 students,” NASA said.
How many cameras are installed on the Orion spacecraft?
“Orion is carrying 32 cameras and devices, including any instrument with a lens capable of capturing photos or video, inside or on the exterior of the vehicle. The systems support engineering, navigation, crew monitoring, and a range of lunar science and outreach activities. Fifteen cameras are mounted directly to the spacecraft, and 17 are handheld cameras operated by the crew,” NASA said.
Artemis program FAQs
Artemis II will travel around the Moon but will not land on its surface. Why is this mission so important?
“The Artemis II test flight is NASA’s first crewed Artemis mission. Astronauts on their first flight aboard NASA’s Orion spacecraft will confirm the spacecraft’s systems operate as designed with crew aboard in the actual environment of deep space. The unique Artemis II mission profile builds on the uncrewed Artemis I flight test by demonstrating a broad range of SLS (Space Launch System) and Orion capabilities needed on deep space missions. This mission will verify Orion’s life support systems can sustain astronauts on longer-duration missions ahead and allow the crew to practice operations essential to Artemis III and beyond,” NASA said.
What is the next mission for NASA’s Artemis program and the agency?
“NASA is aligning agency-wide initiatives to achieve President Donald J. Trump’s National Space Policy and advance American leadership in space. During an Ignition event on March 24 at the agency’s headquarters in Washington. Among the updates, NASA is prioritizing the Artemis program launch cadence, a robust U.S. presence in low Earth orbit, the creation of a Moon Base, breakthrough science, space nuclear power and propulsion, and investment in the NASA workforce to deliver on the agency’s mission with urgency.”
Artemis II Looks Toward Mars
The old Apollo program sent 24 astronauts to the moon in nine missions between December 1968 and December 1972. Twelve astronauts have walked the lunar surface, including Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, the first to walk on the lunar surface in the Apollo 11 mission.
“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” Armstrong said at the time.
As NASA transitions from the quick lunar landings of the Apollo era to the Artemis program, the leap is for a long-term, sustainable presence on the moon in preparation for the much harder, longer journey to Mars, officials have said.
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