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NASA is putting its final touches on plans to launch the Artemis II mission on Wednesday, which will be the first crewed mission to travel into the lunar orbit since the Apollo missions over 50 years ago.
Four astronauts will embark aboard the Orion spacecraft named Integrity for the approximate 10-day mission, which is aimed to “create a durable lunar presence and pave the way for human exploration of Mars.”
The mission won’t be landing on the moon but rather will be a lunar flyby, and is part of a broader multi-stage mission by NASA working towards a longer-term return to the moon.
Part of the crew of astronauts making the trip is Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen of London, Ont., becoming the first Canadian and non-American on such a mission.
Jenni Gibbons of Calgary will serve as Hansen’s backup in the event he can’t fly. She has gone through years of the same training as those on the rocket and during the mission, Gibbons will serve as a voice link to space from Earth.
This mission is slated to take astronauts farther from Earth than any human has been before.
Jeff Spaulding, test director with the NASA Exploration Ground Systems program, said in a press conference Tuesday that the crew is in “great spirits” ahead of tomorrow’s launch.
“I think everyone’s pretty excited and understands the significance of this launch,” he said. “Our team has been working amazingly hard these past few weeks and months trying to get this vehicle ready to where it is.
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“People are excited, and ready to go on this first chapter on our way back to the moon since the 1970s.”
Spaulding also added that “people are concerned sometimes that we are working so hard towards these milestones and things, but there really isn’t. People love coming to work. They love doing this job and that’s why they’re here.”
Mark Burger, launch weather officer with the Space Force’s 45th Weather Squadron, said that the conditions ahead of tomorrow’s launch appear to be “the best” for the spacecraft.
“There’s nothing here that is screaming a no-go for the entirety of the window for any one of these attempts,” he said.
After being announced in 2023, Artemis II has experienced many setbacks to get to this point.
The original launch date of Artemis II was scheduled for November 2024, however, NASA administrator Bill Nelson announced that the launch date was being pushed to April 2026 after “NASA concluded an examination of the Orion crew capsule, made by Lockheed Martin, and its heat shield, which had malfunctioned during reentry into Earth’s atmosphere during a 2022 flight.”
This caused the following projects, Artemis III and IV, to be delayed as well.
“We’ve had some challenges, the team has done an outstanding job managing each and every one of those throughout all these scenarios,” said Spaulding.
He also added that being able to conduct additional launches “really changed the calculus for a lot of people.”
The two-hour launch window is targeted for no earlier than 6:24 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, April 1.
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