Artemis II Lunar Space Mission

Artemis II has commenced – April Fools! No, seriously, on April 1st, NASA launched its Orion spacecraft, known as Integrity, into space. The launch took place at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

As fascinating as the Moon may seem, we still don’t know as much as we’d like. NASA’s intention for Artemis II was to test the waters and acquire more lunar knowledge.

The Crew

According to NASA, four individuals were chosen to take part in Artemis II. Victor Glover was selected to pilot the spacecraft, and his trusty trio rode alongside him. Reid Wiseman was selected as the Commander, while Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen were chosen to be the Artemis II mission specialists. 

Both Glover and Koch became official NASA astronauts in 2013, previously working on additional expeditions and space-related research. Reid was selected as a NASA astronaut in 2009 and has served as a flight engineer. Hansen, who is a Canadian Space Agency astronaut, is the first Canadian to venture to the Moon.

The Mission

Artemis II is a 10-day lunar flyby, space mission focusing on the far side of the Moon’s surface. The team at NASA is hoping to once again set foot on the Moon in order to study it further.

The mission itself is extremely unique as it breaks various records. According to BBC News, the Artemis II mission broke the record for the furthest distance humans have traveled from Earth. In 1970, the Apollo 13 crew traveled 248,655 miles, and the Artemis II crew broke the record by traveling 252,757 miles from Earth.

@nbcnews

The Artemis II crew broke the record for the farthest distance humans have traveled from Earth, breaking a record of 248,655 miles set by Apollo 13 in 1970.

♬ original sound – nbcnews – nbcnews

Along with the distance record-breaking, the crew itself made history too! Glover is the first person of color to travel to the Moon, Koch is the first woman, Hansen is the first non-United States citizen, and Wiseman is the oldest. 

Recent Lunar Updates

Thanks to the Artemis II mission, NASA has been able to gain more lunar information and has allowed the crew to name a pair of craters on the Moon. In 2020, Wiseman lost his wife, Carroll, to cancer, according to NBC News. While in space, the crew decided to commemorate Wiseman’s late wife by naming a crater after her. They named the second crater Integrity, after their ship.

@pbsnews

While on their historic flyby of the moon, the Artemis II astronauts proposed naming a lunar crater after the late wife of Mission Commander Reid Wiseman. Astronaut Jeremy Hansen told mission control that the crew wants to name a previously unnamed moon crater, Carroll, as a tribute to Wiseman’s late wife. She died of cancer in 2020. “A number of years ago, we started this journey in our close-knit astronaut family, and we lost a loved one,” Hansen said in a radio message to mission control. Hansen noted that people will be able to see the lunar crater from Earth at certain times. “It’s a bright spot on the moon,’ he said, ‘and we would like to call it ‘Carroll.'” Video from inside the spacecraft showed the astronauts in a group hug after they communicated with mission control. The crew also suggested naming another lunar crater Integrity, after their spacecraft. #carroll #artemis #nasa space #moon

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The crew bonded immensely on the trip, but also committed a lot of their time to conducting research. They were able to study the far side of the Moon, including its geographical surface and activity on it. The crew conducted tests nearly every day to study the Moon’s radiation exposure, their mental and physical strength, and the ship’s navigation system.

The crew was quite successful in laying eyes on the Moon as their ship made its way around the far side of it. NASA is hoping to use the research conducted throughout Artemis II to return to the Moon’s surface in the future! The crew is scheduled to return to Earth on April 10.