All articles tagged with #orion spacecraft
NASA’s Orion crew module splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California just after 8 p.m. ET, returning four astronauts—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen—from Artemis II, a circumlunar mission that looped around the Moon and tested systems ahead of future lunar landings.
An op-ed praising Artemis II’s historic crewed mission and international collaboration, while arguing that NASA’s competence and a diverse, forward-looking team show what science-driven progress can achieve even amid domestic political turmoil and controversial leadership.
NASA’s Artemis II will send four astronauts aboard Orion on a ~10-day crewed lunar flyby to validate life-support, propulsion, and operations for future Moon missions; the article outlines the crew, timing and milestones (closest approach ~4,067 miles from the Moon, maximum ~252,760 miles from Earth, splashdown near San Diego around April 10), along with mission activities, downlinks, a 32-camera array, the Rise zero-gravity indicator, menu options, and FAQs covering goals, communications, and what comes next for Artemis.
Artemis II has a small internal helium leak in Orion’s service-module valves, but it does not threaten reentry; the leaky valves will be discarded with the service module and NASA will study the leak to guide a redesign of the valve system for future flights, notably Artemis IV. Artemis III remains on track for 2027 (in Earth orbit) and Artemis IV for 2028, with a redesigned helium valve system expected to be ready; heat shield work is progressing as Artemis II proceeds.
Artemis 2 astronaut Christina Koch posed for a space selfie aboard NASA's Orion spacecraft, captured with a modified GoPro mounted on a solar-panel wing and featuring the zero-G indicator 'Rise' during the lunar flyby of the 10-day mission.
The Artemis II crew aboard Orion—Commander Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, Victor Glover, and Canada's Jeremy Hansen—held a post-flight news conference, described the voyage as surreal and profound, reported seven hours of lunar observation with Moon/Earth imagery, and even named Carroll Crater after Wiseman’s late wife as they prepare to return to Earth.
Artemis 2’s Universal Waste Management System on the Orion spacecraft is showing multiple toilet problems, including a jammed urine-collection fan, a burning odor, and difficulty venting stored urine. NASA says the system remains usable but relies on contingency urine bags while engineers search for a root cause—currently suspected to be debris clogging a filter rather than icing—before Orion returns for full analysis after splashdown. The hiccups, while inconvenient, are a critical debugging step for refining the waste-management system for future Moon and Mars missions.
Artemis II astronauts on Day 7 of a 10-day Moon mission reveal how life aboard Orion works, including the floor‑level toilet, loud hygiene bay, and zero‑gravity workouts with a flywheel. The piece also spotlights National Geographic’s astronaut film school that prepared the crew to document the mission, and it teases sleeping upside down in zero gravity, after the crew previously set a record for the farthest distance from Earth.
NASA's Artemis II countdown is underway for a Wednesday liftoff from Kennedy Space Center, sending four astronauts—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen—aboard Orion atop the SLS rocket on a nine-day mission that loops behind the Moon. The flight will test Orion's life-support and navigation systems and pave the way for future lunar landings; Artemis III is no earlier than 2028. The program is shifting toward a lunar base with private landers and in-orbit refueling, and fueling has shown progress after past leaks. Weather forecasts predict an 80% chance of acceptable conditions for liftoff within the two-hour window.
NASA’s Artemis 2 mission will launch no earlier than April 1 at 6:24 p.m. EDT from Kennedy Space Center, carrying Reid Williams (commander), Victor Glover (pilot), Christina Koch (mission specialist) and CSA’s Jeremy Hansen. The crew will ride the Space Launch System and Orion on a roughly 10-day flight to loop around the Moon, with a close approach around 5,000 miles from the lunar surface and a trans-lunar injection about 24 hours after liftoff. Exterior Orion cameras will stream live footage and NASA expects daily communications with Earth as mission events unfold. Artemis 2 tests the SLS/Orion system for future Artemis missions, though timings can change; Space.com will provide live updates.
NASA’s Artemis II will launch a four‑person crew to orbit the Moon in the Orion spacecraft—the first crewed lunar flyby since Apollo—with Reid Wiseman commanding, Victor Glover piloting, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen (CSA) as mission specialists. The mission will test deep‑space operations ahead of potential future Moon landings, and is a stepping stone toward Artemis III, which aims to land astronauts on the Moon in a subsequent flight, planned to occur in the coming years (targeted around 2026).
NASA’s Artemis II mission will be guided from Houston’s mission control, a modern hub blending Apollo-era roles with touchscreen tech to oversee four astronauts on a 10‑day loop around the Moon aboard Orion atop the SLS. A flight director has ultimate authority, supported by the Orion Mission Evaluation Room and a European-service-module team from ESA, all running months of simulations to anticipate problems—aiming to keep the crew safe during launch, translunar injection, lunar cruise, and return re‑entry, including a roughly 40‑minute blackout behind the Moon. The operation reflects lessons from Apollo and Columbia and emphasizes a diverse, highly coordinated team keeping Artemis II on track.
NASA will hold a 3 p.m. EDT media briefing at Kennedy Space Center on March 12 after completing the Artemis II Flight Readiness Review, outlining progress toward the four-astronaut crewed lunar mission and discussing the performance of the Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft; the live briefing will feature key NASA leaders and frame Artemis II as a stepping stone to sustainable lunar exploration and future Mars missions.
Artemis II will fly with shelf-stable, ready-to-eat meals designed for Orion’s self-contained, no-resupply mission; the crew helps select a fixed preflight menu with two beverages per person, while no fresh foods are used due to lack of refrigeration and late-load capabilities. Meals are organized into daily breakfasts, lunches, and dinners and are prepared via rehydration or heating using Orion’s water dispenser and a compact warmer. Menu planning accounts for mission phases (launch, transit, re-entry) and tight mass/volume/power constraints, making Artemis II’s menu more fixed than Apollo, shuttle, or ISS offerings while balancing nutrition, safety, and crew preferences in microgravity.
NASA is reshaping the Artemis program: Artemis III will test key technologies in low Earth orbit instead of landing, and Artemis IV is now scheduled for a 2028 crewed lunar landing; the plan emphasizes in-space life-support, propulsion, and communications tests, potential docking with commercial lunar landers, and new AxEMU suits, while Lunar Gateway is not mentioned in the latest rollout and workforce/schedule challenges persist.