NASA’s Artemis II rocket lifted off at 6:35 p.m. EDT Wednesday, marking the first piloted moonshot since the end of the Apollo program 53 years ago.
The crew, Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, and Mission Specialist Christina Koch from NASA, along with Canadian Space Agency Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen, are now conducting systems checks aboard the Orion capsule in high Earth orbit before proceeding to the moon.
On day two of the mission, the crew completed an engine burn to raise their orbit and entered a second sleep period, wrapping up communications with mission controllers in Houston ahead of a planned rest cycle.
Shortly after the Orion capsule separated from the Space Launch System rocket’s Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage, Glover took manual control of the spacecraft and performed a series of proximity operations designed to test Orion’s ability to operate close to other hardware in space — a critical skill for future docking with lunar landers.
“I see it. Look at that, woohoo! I see the ICPS and the moon in the field of view,” Glover said during NASA’s live broadcast of the mission.
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If all goes according to plan, the crew will receive an unprecedented view of the far side of the moon and set a new record for the farthest distance any human has traveled from Earth: approximately 252,000 miles.
The mission is notable for several firsts: Glover became the first person of color to travel beyond low Earth orbit, Koch the first woman and Hansen the first non-U.S. citizen to do so on a NASA mission.
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The launch had been delayed from an original February target date due to hydrogen fuel leaks and problems with the upper stage propellant pressurization system. NASA said both issues were resolved ahead of Wednesday’s liftoff.
The far side of the moon will be approximately 21% illuminated during the crew’s passage, giving Wiseman, Glover, Koch and Hansen a chance to directly observe portions of the lunar surface never before seen by human eyes.
“Four people, two windows pointing right at the lunar surface, and a highly choreographed dance, really, of who has the cameras, who has the other voice recording devices,” Koch said before launch.
A toilet malfunction was reported earlier in the mission but was resolved before the crew’s first sleep period. All systems are otherwise reported to be operating nominally.
The mission is a test flight intended to check out Orion’s systems and equipment, laying the groundwork for future missions to land astronauts on the moon in 2028. Splashdown is targeted for April 10 in the Pacific Ocean, with the capsule expected to reenter the atmosphere at approximately 25,000 miles per hour.
The Daily Planet’s Daniel Sanchez spoke with former NASA flight director John Curry, who shared with us the most important thing he learned from the Russians after the Cold War, what it will take to co-exist on the moon, and if we can all go to space in our lifetime.
