CNN, NASA, NASA VIA YOUTUBE
By Jackie Wattles, Ashley Strickland
Merritt Island, Florida (CNN) – Artemis II is on its journey to circumnavigate the moon. Four astronauts blasted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday evening on the monumental 10-day mission. The mission crew includes NASA’s Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch along with the Canadian Space Agency’s Jeremy Hansen. The historic and risky lunar venture will mark the first time astronauts return to the vicinity of the moon in more than 50 years. The mission could travel farther from Earth than any human ever has, breaking the Apollo program’s distance record.
The gargantuan Space Launch System rocket fired up its engines at 6:35pm ET Wednesday, putting off nearly 9 million pounds of thrust and vaulting the rocket off the pad. Within one minute, SLS reached supersonic speeds — or more than 767 miles per hour (1,235 kilometers per hour).
The Northrop Grumman-built rocket boosters finished their star-making show, burning through their fuel in mere minutes. Each booster “burns 1,385,000 pounds of propellant in two minutes. That is an average of 5.5 tons of propellant every second,” according to Northrop. These are also the largest solid rocket motors ever built for flight. They’re called “solid” because their fuel is aluminum powder and PBAN — which is stored in a solid state inside the rockets, as opposed to the liquified hydrogen and oxygen that power the large, orange core stage.
At just over five hours after launch, shoebox-size satellites called cubesats each deployed from the spacecraft in one-minute intervals.
The satellites, supplied by space agencies from Germany, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Argentina, will measure the different aspects of the harsh environment of space.
After an action-packed launch day, the Artemis II crew will stay busy on day two of their journey.
NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman and Victor Glover will start by setting up Orion’s flywheel exercise device and testing it out, checking off their first workouts of the mission.
NASA astronaut Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen will do their exercises later in the day. The super light flywheel, smaller than a carry-on suitcase, can be used for rowing, squats and deadlifts. Each crew member will do a 30-minute workout nearly every day to keep their muscles and bones strong in the absence of gravity.
Koch will also dedicate much of her time to preparing for the expected main task for day two: the translunar injection burn. This burn increases Orion’s velocity, allowing it to leave behind a circular orbit of Earth and transfer to an oval-shaped orbit that will help the capsule reach the moon. This will be the last major engine firing of the mission.
During the burn, Orion’s service module, which provides the spacecraft with power, propulsion and thermal control, will give the capsule a big push to embark on a four-day trip around the moon before completing a figure eight back to Earth.
Here’s what to expect during each day of Artemis II.
Day 2: The translunar injection burn is expected to be carried out. This burn, which increases Orion’s velocity allowing it to leave behind a circular orbit of Earth and transfer to an oval-shaped orbit, will help the capsule reach the moon. It will be the last major engine firing of the mission.
Day 3: The crew will conduct a CPR demonstration in space and carry out a communications test through the Deep Space Network, a system of radio antennae on Earth.
Day 4: The astronauts will conduct a review of their plan to capture images during the upcoming lunar flyby.
Day 5: Crew members will practice rapidly donning their spacesuits in case of an emergency. Orion will enter the lunar sphere of influence, or the point in space where the tug of the moon’s gravity is stronger than that of Earth’s gravity.
Day 6: This is the big day. Orion will conduct a roughly three-hour flyby of the far side of the moon and make its closest approach to the satellite – about 4,112 statute miles above the lunar surface. The crew is also expected to reach the maximum distance from Earth.
Day 7: Orion will exit the lunar sphere of influence and begin the journey back home. The crew will discuss their observations from the flyby with scientists in mission control. Apart from that, this is the astronauts’ day off.
Days 8-9: There will be more demonstrations of Orion’s capabilities, like its ability to provide the crew with radiation shielding and to be manually piloted. The crew will also test compression garments that can reduce heart rate increases.
Day 10: Splashdown! Orion will descend through Earth’s atmosphere. After the blistering heat of reentry subsides, a series of parachutes will release to slow the capsule so it can safely splash down off the coast of California.
With the initial operations completed, the crew is now getting some rest. They will sleep for four hours, then wake up for an orbit adjustment, then sleep for another four hours, until about 1 p.m. ET on Thursday.
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