It’s been quite a while coming, but Artemis II has officially left Earth. The NASA mission is carrying four astronauts on the first lunar trip since 1972, when the last Apollo mission took place. That’s around a 54-year gap between ambitious exploration projects.
The astronauts, three from NASA and one from the Canadian Space Agency, departed aboard NASA’s Space Launch System. Liftoff occurred at 06h35 AM Eastern Daylight Time (around 00h30 PM SAST), with the initial stages proving entirely successful.
Artemis II invades space
Artemis II will see the four astronauts travelling for ten days. It’s technically a lunar flyby, but it’s also the furthest humans have travelled into space since… well, ever. NASA’s mission lays the groundwork for Artemis III and IV. The third mission in the program has been scaled back from a lunar landing to an orbital test that will further prepare for putting human boots on the moon.
NASA head Jared Isaacman said, “Artemis II is the start of something bigger than any one mission. It marks our return to the Moon, not just to visit, but to eventually stay on our Moon Base, and lays the foundation for the next giant leaps ahead.”
The agency’s associate administrator, Amit Kshatriya, added, “Over the next 10 days, Reid, Victor, Christina, and Jeremy will put Orion through its paces so the crews who follow them can go to the Moon’s surface with confidence. We are one mission into a long campaign, and the work ahead of us is greater than the work behind us.”
Assuming everything goes as planned, the Orion capsule will arrive at Earth’s lunar partner on 6 April. There, the crew will “take photographs and provide observations of the Moon’s surface,” among other, more scientific tasks intended to prepare for human occupation of the lunar surface.
