Artemis II crew nearly halfway to moon; NASA says mission on track
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The four astronauts on the Artemis II mission are nearly halfway to the moon since launching from Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday.
“Since then [Thursday’s] “Using a translunar injection burn to send the crew around the Moon, the mission continues to perform well overall and crew morale is high,” Lakiesha Hawkins, NASA associate administrator for exploration systems, said at a news conference Friday.
“Currently the crew is more than 100,000 miles from Earth and approximately 150,000 miles from the Moon.
“We call the cool things that people do moonshots for a reason, and this is actually our moonshot that we’re in the middle of, literally and symbolically.”
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A photograph of Earth taken by the Commander. NASA Artemis II astronaut Reid Wiseman inside the Orion capsule on Friday. (NASA via AP)
Hawkins also shared two photos taken by astronaut Cmdr. Reid Wiseman from the Orion spacecraft.
The first image “reveals a backlit Earth revealing auroras as the crew heads toward the moon,” Hawkins said.
It was taken by astronaut Wiseman through a window on the Orion spacecraft, he said, and features two aurora and zodiac lights in the lower right. “Earth visible during solar eclipse.”
“It’s amazing to think that all of us are represented in this photo, except for our four friends,” said Hawkins.
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This image provided by NASA shows an image of Earth taken by NASA astronaut and Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman through the window of the spacecraft after completing the translunar injection burn. (NASA via AP)
The second image, taken by Wiseman on Thursday after the translunar injection burn that launched a spacecraft from Earth orbit, shows the terminating line separating day from night on Earth.
“So as we operate our spacecraft with the crew in deep space for the first time, we continue to learn about our spacecraft, and it’s important to remind ourselves of that as we learn a little more each day,” said Hawkins.
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Artemis II Ascent Flight Director Judd Frieling said Thursday that the crew inspected their windows, scheduled medical conferences and checked how the ground crew was operating the spacecraft while they slept.
The astronauts were able to talk to their families after waking up Friday morning.
“We had planned an orbital correction burn,” Frieling said. “The systems are working so well now that the navigation and propulsion systems are together – that’s not needed. So we’ll transfer that to the next planned correction orbit tomorrow.”
This image from video provided by NASA shows the Artemis II crew: Canadian astronaut and Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen, left; Commander Reid Wiseman; Mission Specialist Christina Koch and pilot Victor Glover. (NASA via AP)
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Howard Hu, Orion’s program manager, said subsystems on the spacecraft continue to perform well, the air revitalization system is “performing very well” and fuel usage is within 5% of projected usage limits.
He said they were working on a pressurization issue with helium pressurizing the oxidizer and propellant tanks that push the fuel out to create some of the larger burns.
Hu said a branch should be isolated, but this is unnecessary and has no impact on the mission.
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“We can do the remaining burns throughout the mission without any adjustments, in what we call bluff mode,” he said. “In other words, there is enough helium pressure in the tanks inside the oxidizer that we can push the fuel out without needing to regulate or require more helium from the helium tanks.”
NASA’s Artemis II moon rocket lifts off from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-B in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Wednesday. (Chris O’Meara/AP)
Hu also showed a photo of part of the Earth seen through a window on the spacecraft that he said was taken by Wiseman.
“Seeing that photo being taken gives me great emotions,” Hu said.
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Hu showed another photo of the crew and joked that Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen “didn’t look like he was working that hard,” “so I’ll have to check to make sure he’s not doing anything other than lying on his side here, but it’s great to see the crew. It’s great to see their smiling faces and hear them talk about their experiences so far.”
Also aboard the Orion capsule for the 10-day mission to fly around the moon are NASA Pilot Victor Glover and Mission Specialist Christina Koch.
