NASA's Artemis II Crewed Mission to Moon successfully lifts off |
NASA’s Artemis II Crewed Mission to Moon successfully lifts off
Four astronauts are headed to the Moon on a spaceship they have named Integrity. The Artemis II mission opens up a new chapter in space exploration.
New Delhi: NASA’s Artemis II crewed lunar flyby mission has successfully lifted off from the Launch Complex 39B, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This is the first integrated crewed flight of the brand new hardware developed for NASA’s ambitious Artemis programme to establish a sustained human presence on the lunar surface. The Artemis II crew consisting of Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialists Jeremy Hansen and Christina Koch are passengers on the Orion Spaceship, that is flying on top of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. Artemis II is the first crewed mission to the Moon since Apollo 17 in December 1972.
The Artemis II rocket at the launch pad. (Image Credit: NASA).
The two day countdown proceeded nominally. The day began with the Artemis II crew suiting up inside the crew quarters, which is a long-standing tradition at NASA. The Orion Crew Survival Suits are custom-made for each astronaut. The crew played a card game, also a tradition, to burn off bad luck. They then greeted the crowd, and rolled out in a van with a security escort to the launch pad. They then walked across the crew access arm, and climbed into the Orion spaceship one by one. This was followed by the closing of two hatches, one of the crew module, and another of the launch abort system. The crew access arm was supposed to be retracted next, but there were anomalies.
Brief hold in countdown 10 minutes before liftoff
A battery in the attitude control motor controller reported temperatures well out of normal range. The engineers examined the data and determined that the reading had to be an instrumentation error. After a review, the team decided to go ahead with the launch. The Launch Abort System is a slender tower that sits on top of the Orion, and rapidly moves the spaceship away from the rocket if it becomes unstable or veers off course. The LAS has to react in milliseconds, and can be activated at any time from liftoff till 300,000 feet.
The Artemis II crew from left to right, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen. (Image Credit: NASA/Frank Michaux).
Then there was also a transient transponder anomaly. The mission was put on hold 10 minutes before liftoff. While the team investigated the transponder losing contact for a few seconds, which was well within safe limits. There was a very brief loss in the telemetry lock with the vehicle, but it was checked and cleared rapidly. There was a launch readiness poll with all teams, as well as the astronauts on board Orion, after which, the countdown was resumed. The crew access arm was the retracted. The ground launch sequencer then took over and executed the complex series of commands leading up to the launch, with the rocket taking over in the last 30 seconds.
Artemis II mission profile
Once in space, the four solar panels, each seven metres in length will deploy. These generate the power for the Orion spaceship. The crew will conduct checkouts of all the systems on the Orion spaceship, to ensure that they are operating nominally. The crew will also conduct a docking operation, to validate the hardware for future Artemis missions. The trans-lunar-injection (TLI) manoeuvre will take place on Day 2, with Orion reaching the lunar sphere of influence on Day 5. The closest approach to the Moon will take place on Day 6, when humans will observe the far side of the Moon with their own eyes for the first time in over half a century. Orion will return to the Earth on Day 9, with the crew spending a day in orbit demonstrating and validating more procedures, before the return and splashdown on Day 10.
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