Artemis II

Comments

• Old_Joe

  February 1

  Thanks for that, @hank. The whole thing had slipped of my radar.
• Crash

  February 2

  Thanks, hank. I love anything about space exploration. Fascinates me.
• Old_Joe

  February 2

  Same here.
• hank

  February 2 edited February 2

  The world won't go crazy this time the way we did in the 60s & 70s. But still a risky venture any way you look at it. Once on the trajectory out to the moon there's no turning around if a problem comes up. Pretty much committed to the planned 10 day mission. The speed of 25,000 mph at which the ship will reenter the earth's atmosphere is much greater than what something simply orbiting earth would. I'm a bit surprised there wasn't at least 1 more test flight of that monster rocket. China has a goal of landing humans there by 2030. So, the U.S. is trying to beat them. Focus will turn to the lunar south pole where there is ice for drinking water and from which hydrogen fuel can be generated for deeper space flight.
• Old_Joe

  February 2

  Perhaps NASA is rushing things a bit to curry favor with Trump, who already doesn't really care for NASA. If he thinks of it he might very well SAVE TRILLIONS of DOLLARS by gutting NASA and starting a new MAGNIFICENT TRUMP SPACE and MOON RESORT complex.
• hank

  February 2

  Old_Joe said:

  Perhaps NASA is rushing things a bit to curry favor with Trump, who already doesn't really care for NASA. If he thinks of it he might very well SAVE TRILLIONS of DOLLARS by gutting NASA and starting a new MAGNIFICENT TRUMP SPACE and MOON RESORT complex.

  Well, as you are aware, NASA has become quite political. But, that's been going on for a while.
• DrVenture

  February 2

  I watched the astronauts being interviewed over the re-entry concerns. There were burned up heat shield tiles on the test flight. One of them said he was not worried at all. I didn't believe him one bit.
• Old_Joe

  8:59PM

  Nasa delays moon rocket launch by a month after fuel leaks during test
  
  Following are excerpts from a current report in The Guardian:
  
  Artemis II mission was due to begin as early as next week and astronauts have spent almost two weeks in quarantine

  Nasa has postponed its historic mission to send astronauts around the moon and back again, after issues arose during a critical test of its most powerful rocket yet. The US space agency had planned to launch the Artemis II mission from Kennedy Space Center in Florida as early as next week, but announced overnight that it would be delayed until March, without specifying a date.
  
  During an elaborate launch-day walkthrough, known as a “wet dress rehearsal”, engineers detected leaking hydrogen from the Space Launch System (SLS). Teams also encountered a problem with a valve associated with the Orion capsule that sits on top of the rocket, and where four astronauts will live and work while on a 10-day mission.
  
  “Engineers pushed through several challenges during the two-day test,” Nasa said in its announcement, adding that “teams will fully review data from the test” of the 98-metre-tall rocket. The news will be a frustrating setback for the crew, who have been in quarantine for close to two weeks to prevent them from picking up illnesses before the mission.

  

  It will be the second flight of Nasa’s SLS rocket, after the uncrewed Artemis I mission in 2022, which was also temporarily plagued by hydrogen leaks during tests.
  
  For Artemis II, the astronauts will not enter lunar orbit but will be the first to make the 685,000-mile round trip to travel around the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972. The mission paves the way for Artemis III, which aims to land astronauts near the lunar south pole. Nasa wants to eventually establish a permanent presence on the lunar surface as part of its Artemis programme, which is named after the Greek goddess of the moon and twin sister of Apollo.
  
  During the overnight test on Tuesday, more than 2.6m litres (700,000 gallons) of super-cold liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen had to flow into the tanks, mimicking the final stages of a real-life countdown.
  
  Due to the delay, Nasa said the crew would re-enter quarantine again “about two weeks” before the next launch window. The agency has previously said there were several possible launch dates between February and the end of April.