NASA’s Artemis II mission is preparing to undertake a historic crewed voyage. This mission will be NASA’s first crewed flight of the Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion spacecraft. Planned for launch in early 2024, this mission is sure to provide a magnificent journey. It’ll be roughly 10 days long and carry astronauts farther into deep space than any human has ever been! The mission aims to pave the way for a sustainable, long-term human presence on the lunar surface. It would be the first such landing since the Apollo missions of the 1960s and 70s.
Expectations for the Artemis II mission are high, as it will be the next major milestone in human space exploration. An international crew of four astronauts will live and work aboard the Orion spacecraft. The robots will work in an extremely limited space of only nine cubic meters. For the duration of the flight, astronauts will be seated in a reclined position. They will be situated in two, side-by-side rows of two, oriented upwards with their posterior ends pointed toward the earth.
The Artemis II crew members proudly wear mission-style patches on the sleeves and chests of their flight suits. These patches, adorned with both U.S. and Canadian flags, illustrate the cross-national collaboration driving this bold educational adventure. As they take on this mission, they will not only test the Orion spacecraft’s capabilities but set the stage for future missions to the Moon and beyond.
Once the spacecraft gets into orbit, it will be subjected to a set of key tests to evaluate its life-support, propulsion, power and navigation systems. That’s why this assessment is so important. It supports astronauts’ training before they push out thousands of kilometers beyond the Moon, to a distance never before achieved by human spaceflight.
The earliest potential launch windows for Artemis II are February 6-11, March 6-11, and April 1-6, 2024. We are closely scrutinizing these dates and working to maximize the chances for an optimal launch at this time,” said NASA engineers and mission planners.
For a majority of their journey, the astronauts will be subjected to increased radiation exposure. These levels will be much higher than what they endure on the ISS, which orbits in low-Earth orbit. Despite all this radiation exposure, NASA promises that these levels are still within acceptable human exposure limits.
As Artemis II counts down to its launch date, it represents a significant achievement for NASA. Beyond these milestones, this mission represents a remarkable vision for future lunar exploration. Beyond Artemis II, we’ll be launching missions to follow Artemis IV and Artemis V. All these missions will be paving the way for Gateway, a small space station orbiting the Moon. This station will facilitate longer missions and support international collaboration among various countries aiming to establish a sustained presence around the Moon.
As the astronauts come back to Earth they will have to deal with a dangerous and turbulent re-entry. Then they will splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, off the west coast of the U.S. This splashdown marks the completion of an extraordinary trip. That is not all that July 20, 2023, represents.