NASA
NASA’s Artemis II rocket arrives at Kennedy Space Center launch pad 39B
It’s finally happening! The Artemis II mission, which will take humans back to the lunar neighborhood for the first time in more than 50 years, is scheduled to launch this Wednesday, April 1, at 11:24 pm, from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The program’s first manned mission will carry NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover e Christina Kochalong with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansenon a 10-day trip around the Moon.
Initially last year, the mission was postponed several times. It will finally take place this Wednesday, in a two-hour window that opens at 6:24 pm local time — 11:24 pm in Portugal. If there is any unforeseen event, there will be a new launch opportunity on the 6th.
The mission’s main objectives are test life support systems for the first time with people on board in real operating conditions, collect more data about how spaceflight affects the human body and prepare the ground for future manned missions Artemis.
The mission will also be able to provide never-before-seen images of the Moon and Earth.
A Artemis II will break seven major records: it will be the first trip to the Moon by a black astronaut (Glover, as Orion’s first pilot), the first woman (cook), o first non-American (Hansen, in his debut in space) and the older person (Wiseman, aged 50).
It will also be the mission that will travel furthest from Earth (400 thousand kilometers) and that will return with the highest reentry speed (about 40 thousand kilometers per hour), note a.
Finally, for the first time, a mission to the Moon will take 4 astronauts on board; the Apollo Program capsules had the capacity to transport only 3 astronauts.
NASA will broadcast one before and during the launch, and throughout the mission, on its website, in addition to the space agency’s other social media platforms
Interested parties can participate in the virtual guests of the mission and receive selected resources about the launch, notifications about related opportunities or possible changes, as well as a digital stamp of NASA virtual guest “passport”.
Starting April 2, NASA will daily updates from the Johnson Space Center, in Houston, and in , in which the crew will also participate in cLive conversations throughout the mission. And finally, we can follow Orion’s journey through space on .
Now let’s hope that Orion has a smooth journey, after a turbulent period in recent months. NASA canceled the release initially scheduled for February 6th for repair hydrogen leaks and problems with the helium flow on the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.
