The second day of Artemis II The lunar mission saw the crew carry out a series of maneuvers that put the Orion capsule on track for the far side of the Moon.
By Claire Cameron edited by Lee Billings
An image of Earth taken by a NASA astronaut and Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman from the window of the Orion spacecraft after the crew performed a translunar injection burn. The photograph includes two auroras (top right And bottom left), and the zodiacal light (bottom right) can be seen when the Earth eclipses the sun.
NASA/Reid Wiseman
NASA launched four astronauts on a pioneering journey around the Moon: the Artemis II assignment. Follow our coverage here.
Artemis II, from NASA first crewed mission to the moon Since Apollo 17 in 1972, is on the verge of achieving sure about that promise.
As of 10 a.m. EDT Friday, the mission’s Orion spacecraft was about 88,000 miles from Earth, 170,000 miles from the Moon and traveling at about 4,260 miles per hour.
On Thursday, the astronauts on board – Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Jeremy Hansen and Christina Koch – actually got some sleep. They then carried out a series of maneuvers that allowed them to leave Earth’s orbit and head towards the Moon.
On supporting science journalism
If you enjoy this article, please consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribe. By purchasing a subscription, you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.
The most crucial of these was the translunar injection (TLI) burn, which occurred at 7:49 p.m. EDT and lasted about five minutes and 50 seconds, accelerating the spacecraft to 22,670 miles per hour. At the time, the spacecraft was just 185 miles above Earth.
This fuel consumption is established Orion on a path around the moon called a free return trajectory, which essentially means that the spacecraft will enter the gravitational influence of the moon (but will not orbit our natural satellite) and rotate around its far side. This route also puts Orion on track to return to Earth on the 10th day of the mission: April 10.
At a post-TLI press conference, Lori Glaze, acting associate administrator for NASA’s Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, said the burn appeared successful and that “from this point on, the laws of orbital mechanics are going to carry our crew to the Moon, around the far side, and back to Earth.”
The astronauts also tried the space capsule’s flywheel exercise machine: Wiseman’s movements successfully caused the Orion capsule’s live feed to wobble. He said he thought it was a great cardio exercise, but it developed a slight static load.
“It’s a really good piece of equipment, and we can actually get a good workout in,” Wiseman said.
Besides probably welcome stress relief and a chance to get moving, such workouts are essential for astronauts to stay healthy in zero zero.g conditions of their capsule. The crew also tested Orion’s water dispenser.
The second day was also about how to use Artemis IIthe toilets. Shortly after reaching Earth’s orbit, the astronauts saw a fault alarm in the facility, but after troubleshooting by Koch, who called herself the mission’s “space plumber,” it turned out there wasn’t enough water in the toilet pump, NASA officials said at the news conference.
The third day, April 3, will see the Orion spacecraft make further moves to ensure it is on track to the Moon while crew members carry out a series of demonstrations and tests. Glover, Koch and Hansen will demonstrate CPR, and Wiseman and Glover are expected to check out the mission’s medical kit, which includes, among other things, a thermometer, blood pressure monitor and stethoscope.
Koch will also test the capsule’s emergency communications system, transmitting signals to NASA’s ground-based Deep Space Network, which is a vast array of radio antennas located at different locations on Earth that allows near-continuous communications with spacecraft.
“We have eight days of work ahead of us,” Glaze said Thursday.
It’s time to defend science
If you enjoyed this article, I would like to ask for your support. Scientific American has been defending science and industry for 180 years, and we are currently experiencing perhaps the most critical moment in these two centuries of history.
I was a Scientific American subscriber since the age of 12, and it helped shape the way I see the world. SciAm always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of respect for our vast and magnificent universe. I hope this is the case for you too.
If you subscribe to Scientific Americanyou help ensure our coverage centers on meaningful research and discoveries; that we have the resources to account for decisions that threaten laboratories across the United States; and that we support budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.
In exchange, you receive essential information, captivating podcastsbrilliant infographics, newsletters not to be missedunmissable videos, stimulating gamesand the best writings and reports from the scientific world. You can even give someone a subscription.
There has never been a more important time for us to stand up and show why science matters. I hope you will support us in this mission.