Artemis II will lift off from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center on April 1 with a two-hour launch window starting at 6:24 p.m. EDT (3:54 a.m. IST). It is the United States’ first manned lunar mission in nearly 50 years — following the historic Apollo program.
Four astronauts – three American and one Canadian – will fly around the moon during the ten-day mission. NASA said the four Artemis II crew members will fly around the far side of the moon at altitudes of approximately 3,000 to 9,000 miles.
The Artemis II flight will take astronauts farther from Earth and closer to the Moon than any human has been in more than half a century, while also testing the Orion capsule and venturing further into deep space than anyone has gone before.
Here, we explain how NASA will send and bring back Artemis II astronauts and compare Artemis II’s flight path to the Apollo missions.
How NASA Will Send and Bring Back Artemis II Astronauts
The Artemis II mission will take place over 10 days – from launch on April 1 to splashdown on April 10. During the mission, the Orion spacecraft, carrying four astronauts, will make two orbits of Earth and then make a figure-of-eight orbit around the Moon before returning to Earth.
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After launch on April 1, the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket’s main engines will shut down, and a little later the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS) will fire again, lifting the spacecraft into high Earth orbit. The crew will have about 23 hours to thoroughly inspect Orion’s systems. After about three hours, NASA will test how Orion can handle the mission.
After the astronauts spend three to four days checking and making science observations, the Orion spacecraft is expected to enter the Moon’s sphere of influence on flight day 5, “marking the point at which the Moon’s pull will be stronger than Earth’s gravitational pull.” The crew then try on their spacesuits.
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Officially called the Orion Crew Survival System, the orange suits protect the crew during launch and reentry, but could also be used in an emergency to provide crew members wearing them with a breathable atmosphere for up to six days if Orion depressurizes.
The Artemis II crew will then come closest to the moon on flight day 6, traveling the farthest from Earth, NASA explained. Here, Artemis II could set a record for the farthest distance anyone has traveled from Earth, depending on launch day. The crew rotates around the far side of the Moon.
Orion will leave the lunar sphere of influence on the morning of the 7th flight day. In the following days, the crew and ground team will record some sightings. The crew will assess their ability to protect themselves from high-radiation events such as solar flares.
It will also test Orion’s manual piloting capability by steering the spacecraft through various missions.
Orion will leave the lunar sphere of influence on the morning of the 7th day of flight.
On flight day 9, the crew prepares to return to Earth. On the tenth day, the crew return their cabin to its original configuration—with equipment stowed and seats in place—and return to their spacesuits.
All eyes will then be on reentry – one of the most important moments for any space flight. It will be a key test of the Orion heat shield in the crew module.
How will the Artemis II crew re-enter Earth?
“Final backtracking corrections will ensure Orion is on track for splashdown,” NASA said.
On the final day, the crew module separates from the service module, whose engines have steered them around the moon and back to Earth.
This exposes the crew module’s heat shield, which will protect the spacecraft and crew as they travel back through Earth’s atmosphere.
Once safely through the heat of reentry, the shroud that protected the forward compartment of the spacecraft will be jettisoned to make way for the deployment of a series of parachutes.
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There are two “drogue parachutes” that slow the capsule to about 307 miles per hour, followed by three pilot parachutes that retract the final three main parachutes.
“These will slow Orion down to approximately 17 mph to splash down in the Pacific Ocean, where NASA and US Navy personnel will be waiting for them to complete the Artemis II mission,” NASA explained.
A key test for the Orion spacecraft
The Orion spacecraft’s heat shield recorded an “unexpected loss of charred material during re-entry on an unmanned Artemis I test flight.” Since then, NASA and its engineers have been working around the clock to solve the problem.
Once safely through the heat of reentry, moments later the parachutes will open and Orion will slow down to reach the Pacific Ocean where NASA and US Navy personnel will be waiting, ending the Artemis II mission.
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After the control procedures are complete, Orion will perform another propulsion motion, called a translunar injection (TLI) burn. The Service Module will then provide the final push needed to get Orion on its way to the Moon.
The TLI burn will send the crew on a roughly four-day trip around the backside of the moon, where they will eventually form a figure eight stretching over 230,000 miles from Earth before Orion returns home.
How does the path of Artemis II differ from that of Apollo?
NASA explained that during Artemis II, astronauts will be looking at the Moon from a “unique perspective” because they will be passing by at a much higher altitude (between 4,000 and 6,000 miles from the surface) compared to the Apollo missions (~70 miles from the surface).
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How Artemis II Astronauts Will See the Moon | Visual representation
They will see the entire disk of the moon, including the regions near the north and south poles. At closest approach, the Moon will appear to the Artemis II crew to be about the size of a basketball held at arm’s length.
At closest approach, the Moon will appear to the Artemis II crew to be about the size of a basketball held at arm’s length.(NASA)
What is the lunar far side?
The lunar far side is the region of the Moon that is not visible from Earth. Some people call the far side—the hemisphere we can never see from Earth—the “dark side,” but that’s misleading.
This is because the Moon rotates at the same rate as the Earth (called synchronous rotation), so the same hemisphere is always facing the Earth.
NASA explained that it is possible to observe the phases of the moon taking place on its known near side from Earth. Because half of the Moon is always illuminated, the far side also goes through phases outside of our line of sight.
During a full moon, the adjacent side is in full sunlight, while the far side is in full shadow. Meanwhile, a “new moon” occurs when the far side of the Moon has full sunlight and the side facing us has night.
“Depending on the launch date, the crew of NASA’s Artemis II mission may become the first people to see the far side of the Moon…in sunlight,” it said.
