Artemis II is about to take off, a mission that will bring humanity back to the moon
The shipArtemis II will be launched from Florida this Wednesday at 6:24 p.m., at midnight in the Basque Country. The mission will involve the return of astronauts to lunar orbit for the first time in half a century.
The countdown is over. NASA will launch the Artemis II this Wednesday. It will be a historic mission, as after 50 years, four astronauts will return to lunar orbit on a journey that will last approximately 10 days.
Artemis II will depart from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 18:24, it is midnight in the Basque Country (00:24 hours on April 2). If the launch is not planned, the mission has several dates set throughout the month of April.
The four astronauts participating in the mission will travel aboard the Orion spacecraft, where they will live for the duration of their journey of about 1.1 million kilometers. All four will be in the ship's crew module, while the service module will carry the essential products necessary for their survival, such as drinking water, nitrogen and breathing oxygen.
What's the trip going to look like?
The spacecraft Orion will be in the orbit of the Earth, and then the ship will begin a four-day journey to the moon. It will fly over the natural satellite and then back to Earth. During the flight, the crew will check all the systems and test the manual control maneuvers that will be essential for future Artemis missions.
Where will the astronauts live?
The Orion cabin has 9.34 mm of space, almost 60% more than the Apollo command module (the Apollo was the spacecraft that first brought man to the moon in the 1960s). Orion has modern services such as toilet, physical exercise machines and a small kitchen.
The capsule will be the only part of the ship to be recovered, bringing back the astronauts, who will sail into the Pacific Ocean, where the crew will be picked up by NASA and the Department of Defense.
Thecrew of Artemis II shall consist of:
Reid Wiseman, Navy commander and veteran astronaut with experience at the International Space Station.
Victor J. Glover, former pilot of the Crew-1 Dragon.
Christina Hammock Koch, mission specialist, the first woman to fly to the moon.
Jeremy Hansen, the first non-American astronaut to travel to the moon from the Canadian Space Agency.
Artemis IIwill bring humanity back to the moon and open the door to a new era of space exploration.
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