Artemis II Rises
Artemis II took to the skies at 6:35 PM EDT on Wednesday afternoon, paying off years of hard work and planning by NASA and its partners. Despite a long campaign since its first rollout in January, Artemis II breezed through the final countdown and launched on its first attempt. Now safely in a high orbit of the Earth, astronauts Wiseman, Glover, Koch, and Hansen have been hard at work testing their spacecraft Integrity. Much of the mission remains ahead of them, including the crucial decision to commit to return humanity to the Moon.
Wednesday’s launch campaign began with a flawless fueling of the Space Launch System, validating the same new seals that supported a successful test in February. Some challenges appeared during the count, including an issue receiving signals from the rocket’s Flight Termination System and high temperature readings in a battery on the Launch Abort System. Teams worked through and resolved these hiccups as they occurred, making good use of planned holds and margin in the timeline. As local weather improved, Artemis II ultimately entered terminal count just 11 minutes after its earliest opportunity.
During the final poll, the first Artemis crew came together to offer their approval to launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson. “We are going for our families,” said Glover; “for our teammates,” continued Koch; “for all humanity,” added Hansen. Commander Wiseman concluded with an enthusiastic note: “Your Artemis II crew is go for launch—Full send.”
The Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft Integrity lifted off from Launch Complex 39B at Kennedy Space Center in broad daylight, treating crowds in Florida with the sight of NASA’s Moon rocket against blue afternoon skies. As the mission powered through booster separation and LAS jettison, Commander Wiseman reported, “we have a beautiful Moonrise, and we’re heading right at it.” Just over eight minutes after launch, the core stage shut down its RS-25 engines and separated, leaving Integrity to finalize its orbit atop the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS).
In orbit, the crew put Integrity through its paces. Mission specialists Koch and Hansen worked to configure systems and investigate issues with a fine-toothed comb: a water valve rattled by launch; a wobbly solar array; even an uncooperative toilet. A partial loss of Orion telemetry was attributed to ground equipment following a signal handover between communications satellites, and mission control soon re-established full contact with Integrity. NASA’s live broadcast of conversations between mission control and Integrity offered unique insight into each of these challenges.
Late in the evening on the first day of the flight, Artemis II completed one of its key mission objectives: testing manual control of the Orion spacecraft. After separating from the ICPS, pilot Victor Glover began flying Integrity by hand, using Orion’s thrusters to approach and maneuver near targets on the discarded stage. Over more than an hour of testing, Glover described Orion’s handling as “intuitive” and “responsive,” concluding, “overall, guys, this flies very nicely […] Great flying with you, Houston.” This successful proximity operations test proves Orion’s ability to dock to future spacecraft, as it will during Artemis III next year.
Despite a successful and productive first day, the bulk of the mission is yet to come. At time of writing, Integrity has completed its perigee raise maneuver and the crew continue to evaluate the spacecraft’s performance. The future of Artemis II now hinges on the go/no-go call for Trans-Lunar Injection, expected sometime on Thursday evening. Although alternate missions are available if needed to continue Orion checkouts before returning to Earth, a “go” call will cement the crew’s place in history as the next people to visit the Moon.
Space Scout will continue its coverage of Artemis II as the mission progresses.
