four Astronauts in training To fly around the moon early next year strapped to them Orion spacecraft This weekend the training countdown to a major event towards launch.
Based on the frequent stops and starts seen on NASA’s countdown clock, the complex test scheduled for late November ran into problems at various points on Saturday. NASA did not provide any details other than the Artemis 2 commander Reid Wiseman Overall, the test went well, he said.
Artemis 2 astronauts head to their Space Launch System rocket on Saturday for a practice countdown on launch day procedures before a trip around the moon early next year. From left to right: Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, NASA crewmates Christina Koch and Victor Glover, and mission commander Reed Wiseman. / Credit: NASA
“It was a very successful day on our #Integrity spacecraft. Did everything go well? Absolutely not. But this spacecraft and our team have shown us they are up to the challenge. Launch is getting very close,” Weissman said in a post on X.
The launch is tentatively scheduled for early February, but the schedule is very tight and the flight may be postponed to early March. No decisions are expected to be made until after the first of next year.
Anyway, Weisman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen are wearing bright orange pressure suits, strapping down their Orion capsule using the same procedures they would follow on launch day.
Such “countdown demonstration tests” are usually performed shortly before launch with the rocket and crew ship already on the launch pad. But for Saturday’s test, the astronauts boarded their spacecraft aboard NASA’s massive Space Launch System (SLS) rocket inside the International Space Center’s cavernous vehicle assembly building. Kennedy Space Center.
The Artemis 2 Orion crew capsule, inside a protective launch shroud, and its escape rocket are seen amid service pads inside NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center. Unseen is a 322-foot-tall Space Launch System rocket, on top of which the crew capsule is mounted. The Artemis 2 crew was strapped into Orion Saturday for a countdown exercise. / Credit: NASA
Over the course of the exercise, the astronauts and launch control team worked through the same countdown procedures they would follow on launch day, which typically ends less than a minute before the clocks reach zero.
There are five launch opportunities in February when the Moon and Earth are in the right relative positions. The first such opportunity comes on February 6th. To determine this date, the SLS rocket and Orion must be removed from the assembly building to… pad 39B in mid-January, setting the stage for a crucial fueling test that must go well before NASA can move forward with the launch.
Given the amount of work remaining to complete preparations, sources say NASA may choose to postpone the flight to early March.
Whenever it lifts off, the flight plan calls for Orion and its crew to spend 25 hours in an elliptical Earth orbit to test the spacecraft’s life support, propulsion and navigation systems.
The crew plans to fly close to the SLS rocket’s upper stage to test Orion’s maneuvering systems and rendezvous procedures that will be needed for the final lunar landing missions.
The unmanned Orion performed a similar loop around the moon during Artemis mission 1 In November 2022. But the Lockheed Martin-built spacecraft was not equipped with a full life support system and did not perform propulsive launches such as those needed for rendezvous.
Once testing is complete, Artemis 2 Orion will leave Earth orbit on a “free return” trajectory that will carry the crew around the Moon and return to the Pacific Ocean. The ship will not enter orbit around the moon.
But Artemis 2 will remain the first manned mission to the Moon since then Apollo 17 In 1972, it carried Weissman and his companions farther than any other human has ever traveled.
Artemis 2 astronauts Victor Glover (foreground) and Commander Reed Wiseman suit up before strapping into their Orion capsule for a training countdown. Crewmate Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen were not seen. / Credit: NASA
The flight will pave the way for the Artemis 3 spacecraft, which will carry as-yet-unnamed astronauts to the lunar surface near the lunar south pole, NASA hopes, in 2028.
The Artemis 3 flight was originally scheduled to take place in 2024, a goal that was set during the first Trump administration. But the mission has been repeatedly delayed due to processing problems and slowdowns during the Covid-19 pandemic. Super Heavy Starship Testing and working to develop the lunar lander, known to NASA as the Human Landing System, or HLS.
The current target of 2028 was set in the past few weeks when it became clear that the space agency would not be ready in time to meet the previous, more recent target of 2027.
China also plans to land its own “astronauts” on the moon by 2030, creating a new experience. Space race Of sorts, which is what NASA has vowed to win.
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