The last time a human had ever gone near the moon was over 50 years ago. December 11, 1972 was the last time humans were ever near or around the moon. Until this year.<\/p>\n
On April 1, 2026, NASA launched Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen around the lunar satellite of earth. The mission itself lasted 10 days and the crew safely splashed down on April 11, 2026. This mission wasn\u2019t just about going back because we can, but rather the stepping stone of a multinational idea.<\/p>\n
At 6:35 pm EST on April 1, 2026, the Artemis II SLS (Space Launch system) rocket launched off of the launch pad at Kennedy Space Centers Launch Complex using the most powerful rocket boosters ever created. The twin thrusters provided 75% of the thrust needed to lift the 5.5 million pound rocket off of the pad according to NASA. Together, with the four RS-25 engines at full thrust, the systems produced 8.8 million pounds of force at lift-off. By 6:37 pm EDT the SLS twin solid rocket boosters separated, and at 6:43 pm EDT the main engine cutoff of the SLS core stage was complete and had successfully separated from the Orion spacecraft. At 6:59 pm EST the Orion\u2019 SAWs (Solar Array Wings) were fully deployed completing a key configuration step for the mission and the Orion is on its way to the moon.<\/p>\n
The first day of the mission required still more steps to finish the configuration process of the Orion, then in orbit around the earth. During this stage is also some troubleshooting, mostly with the toilet aboard Orion. At 7:49 pm EDT, the crew was given the go to engage Orion\u2019s main engines and fire themselves onto the trajectory to the moon. The engines produced 6,700 pounds of thrust, which can accelerate a car from 0-60 in 2.7 seconds. On days three and four the crew began to ready their equipment for the lunar flyby, and Christina Koch manually piloted the Orion spacecraft in the manual piloting test. On day five they performed suit tests to make sure the suits are okay to be worn. On day six, at 1:56 pm EDT, Orion and the crew passed behind the moon in a 40 minute communication blackout. During this time the crew were the farthest humans have ever been from the Earth, surpassing the record set by Apollo 13. During that time, they also took never-before-seen pictures of the far side of the moon. Day seven was the beginning of the journey back to Earth, and day eight was spent conducting key tests. On day 9 they prepared to come home, and on day 10 they set for the final splash down. At 7:53 pm EDT the Orion capsule re-entered earth’s atmosphere and experienced a 6 minute communication blackout as plasma surrounded the capsule.<\/p>\n
Finally, at 8:07 pm EDT on April 11, 2026, the Orion capsule splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, and the astronauts were safely extracted at 9:34 pm EDT, back home at last.<\/p>\n
This mission was filled with incredibly intricate and necessary tests for future travel to the moon, but it was also filled with many funny and adorable moments. The entire mission was live videoed back to Earth so people could watch the crew on Orion. Viewers of the videos loved the mission’s mascot, Rise, a little moon with an Earth hat on, that floated around the cabin of the Orion. During the mission nutella was also noted to be floating around. The toilet was another subject of laughs during the mission, as well as a call with President Donald Trump, in which the crew seemed to not want to speak with President Trump, instead sitting and smiling at the camera while the microphone floated about the cabin. However one of the most memorable moments was when Reid Wiseman requested that a crater on the far side of the moon be named after his late wife, Carroll, forever remembered on the face of the moon.<\/p>\n
While these missions had hilarious moments, they for a very good reason. This is the first manned mission of many on the road to the moon. Artemis III will demonstrate the new commercial lunar landers. Artemis IV is targeted for early 2028 and will be the first moon landing for the Artemis missions. Artemis V is targeted to be launched late 2028 to the moon’s surface and then subsequent launches to the lunar surface will occur every year or so, according to NASA. By the end of these missions NASA and other international space agencies would like to set up a permanent moon base and, in the future, use this research to go to Mars. Artemis II was just a stepping stone for the future of space travel.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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