NASA’s Artemis II: Four astronauts set for historic lunar orbit mission

NASA’s Artemis II mission is set to launch four astronauts on a 10-day journey around the moon without landing, marking the first human voyage beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972. The mission will pave the way for a planned moon landing in 2028 under Artemis IV.

New York: More than half-a-century after mankind’s sojourn to the moon, four astronauts are planned to take off Wednesday on a voyage that will take them around the celestial body in preparation for journeys beyond, deep into space.

“Fifty-three years ago, humanity left the moon and did not return. Now we go back”, declared NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya, clearing the mission.

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NASA’s Artemis II rocket with the Orion spacecraft with four astronauts is set to lift off at 6:24 pm local time Wednesday (3:54 am Thursday in India) from NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on a 10-day odyssey that will take them tantalisingly close to the moon, but they will not land there.

Kshatriya said at a news conference that the mission that had been delayed last month due to possible rocket problems was now all set, ready for the flight.

“I have complete confidence in this team and the NASA workforce,” he said.

The last time humans ventured that far into space was in December 1972 when astronauts on the Apollo 17 mission landed on the moon.

Artemis II’s goal is to test the rocket and the space capsule in preparation for a planned moon landing in 2028 by Artemis IV with a crew.

Hence the four astronauts will not set foot on the moon and will only fly around the farside of the moon.

The crew reflects diversity with an African American pilot, Victor Glover, a woman, Mission Specialist Christina Koch, and a Canadian Space Agency Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen.

NASA’s Reid Wiseman commands the mission.

“It is our strong hope that this mission is the start of an era where everyone, every person on Earth, can look at the moon and think of it as also a destination”, Koch said.

During the 10-day mission, the spacecraft is to fly on a figure-8 pattern, looping around the Earth and the moon, 7,400 kilometres away.

The first orbit around the Earth is to test the Orion space module with the crew onboard, during next orbit the manual controls and the ability of the Orion to dock are up for tests.

Next, it is to head towards the moon, looping around it, before returning home on April 10, going partway around the Earth and splashing down on the Pacific Ocean, near San Diego, California.

US plans to eventually set up a base on the moon as it prepares for missions to Mars with humans.