On April 1, four astronauts set off on a 10-day voyage around the moon and back. The mission, which will send humans to the moon for the first time since 1972, will test key systems in preparation for two moon landings in 2028, which will lay the foundation for a permanent base on the moon.
Artemis II’s crew, consisting of Captain Reed Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen, will slingshot around the Earth before initiating a menstrual ejection burn to send it on a flight some 245,000 miles (394,000 kilometers) into lunar orbit.
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sunrise over the moon
At 322 feet (98 meters) tall, the Artemis II rocket stack is taller than the Statue of Liberty and provides more than 8.8 million pounds (4 million kilograms) of thrust to a capsule the size of a camper.
take a seat
NASA’s initial goal in 2019 was to land on the moon by 2024, and the launch of Artemis II was highly anticipated.
Still, setting this up early was an act of faith on the part of many onlookers, given that Artemis II and its predecessor missions suffered numerous delays and setbacks.
To the tarmac
To avoid health problems in space, it is standard procedure for astronauts to quarantine before launch.
The Artemis II astronauts were quarantined with their families, and they played a card game just before escaping. This was one of many pre-launch rituals aimed at “using up” bad luck before heading to the launch pad.
locked and loaded
During their ascent into orbit, the astronauts experienced up to four times the gravity of Earth and accelerated to speeds of up to 10,000 miles (16,000 km) per hour.
These speeds pale in comparison to the Artemis II astronauts’ re-entry speeds, falling at just over 25,000 miles per hour (40,000 km/h), the fastest in human history.
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lift off
The SLS rocket burns more than 730,000 gallons (28,000 liters) of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen in its core stage alone before reaching orbit.
The core stage’s four RS-25 engines consume propellant at a rate of 1,500 gallons (5,700 liters) per second during eight minutes of operation. That’s enough to drain an Olympic-sized pool in that amount of time.
Live from Cape Canaveral
This launch image was taken by Live Science’s Artemis II launch correspondent Roger Guillemette for live coverage of Artemis II.
Mr. Guillemette has witnessed nearly 100 human spaceflight launches, from the Saturn IB launch of the Apollo-Soyuz test project in July 1975 to the final launch of shuttle Atlantis on STS-135 in July 2011.
A scream across the sky
The SLS rocket emitted a roaring sound of 176 decibels during liftoff. The noise caused severe eardrum damage and could be heard up to 50 km (30 miles) away.
While the world is watching
According to early viewing estimates, up to 400,000 people watched the rocket take off from along Florida’s Space Coast, with tens of millions watching online at the same time.
shoot a rocket into the sky
After the SLS rocket ignited its two solid-fuel boosters for liftoff, it took about seven seconds to clear the launch tower. The rocket broke the sound barrier within just one minute of flight.
towards the moon
Once in space, the Orion capsule separated from the rocket’s core stage.
The crew will now orbit the Earth and use gravity-based slingshot maneuvers to gain speed.
This will be followed by a menstrual ejection burn that will put the crew on their final orbit towards the Moon.
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