A NASA video (above) details how the upcoming Artemis II mission is expected to unfold.
The space agency released the animation last year, but since the Artemis II astronauts could fly to the moon as early as February 6, it’s a good time to watch it again.
Artemis II crew members – Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman and Christina Koch of NASA and Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency – will launch from inside the Orion spacecraft and be carried into space by the powerful Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.
The crew will spend ten days in space, orbiting first the Earth and then the Moon before returning for water landing.
The highly anticipated mission is the first human flight to the moon since the last Apollo mission more than 50 years ago.
NASA’s video shows every step of the mission, from launch to landing.
“The 10-day test flight will demonstrate a range of crewed space exploration capabilities,” says the narrator. “The mission will demonstrate that the Orion spacecraft is ready to keep astronauts alive in space and allow the crew and ground teams to practice operations essential to the success of future missions.”
The mission does not include a moon landing. Instead, on their flight around the moon, the four astronauts will come within 6,500 to 9,500 kilometers of the lunar surface.
When the spacecraft returns from the far side of the moon, it will be pulled home by Earth’s atmosphere over the course of four days.
In the final phase of the homecoming, Orion and the crew will enter Earth’s atmosphere at a speed of nearly 25,000 miles per hour (about 40,000 kilometers per hour).
Friction with Earth’s atmosphere and the use of parachutes will slow its descent to prepare it for the water disaster about 50 miles off the California coast.
NASA is currently carrying out final checks on the rocket. A wet dress rehearsal is expected to take place this weekend. Meanwhile, the crew is in quarantine, patiently waiting for the trip of a lifetime.
