This is the largest mission that NASA has taken on.
Humans last stepped foot on the moon in 1972 during NASA’s Apollo program.
More than fifty years later, that’s about to change.
Apollo had a sister, Artemis, and this is our generation, and I think this is a fantastic thing to really go explore and put a presence on the moon.
The Artemis Generation, now, on the Inside Story.
Thanks for joining us. I’m VOA’s Midwest Correspondent Kane Farabaugh here at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The launch and return of the unmanned Orion capsule as part of NASA’s Artemis 1 mission marks the beginning of a new chapter in space exploration. As hundreds of analysts and engineers around the world review the data coming in from the mission, planning is underway for the first crewed mission back to the lunar surface, in what NASA hopes becomes a long term presence on the moon.
This is the largest mission that NASA has taken on.
As it traveled farther than any craft designed to carry people, NASA’s staff watched intently as volumes of data streamed back from Artemis 1’s uncrewed Orion capsule.
Thermal analysis. Vibe acoustic.
Analyzing the data from the Orion seat to understand the dynamic response to having the mannequin in there.
We want to make sure the spacecraft is set up for those challenges – radiation, things like that.
The Orion capsule’s 26 day journey, carrying 3 mannequins tens of thousands of kilometers beyond the moon, tested NASA’s ability to one day carry astronauts like Victor Glover in a craft where the crew won’t have much independent control.
The maneuvers it's going to do are so complicated that for me to have manual control throughout the entire regime of flight actually adds risk that that we aren't necessarily trying to buy off on.
We will have Astronauts will be on board, they will monitor all their systems, they will have 60 plus displays that show everything on the vehicle and provide telemetry and command interface to the vehicle, but automation in the background will be operating the mission in its entirety.
NASA’s Shanna DeLeon, a veteran of the Space Shuttle program, is part of the team working on new and very different technology from that used by the last astronauts to reach the moon.
It’s very different than the Apollo era of capsule where you had switch throws and multiple astronauts, and you called the astronauts to make actions that would operate the vehicle. Artemis is automated - it’s a software driven vehicle, it’s a data driven vehicle that will automate everything from takeoff through splashdown.
NASA officials expressed confidence in Orion’s overall performance – despite some minor technical glitches. The agency must now sort through the collected data in preparation for the next step – Artemis 2.
All the data we get is a success. And that’s the important thing, to go off and test that out so we can buy down that risk for Artemis 2.
While Space X is also working on a new rocket system to reach the moon to assist in NASA’s long-term goals, Program Integration manager Rodriguez says the Orion capsule is NASA’s craft of choice for the foreseeable future.
This isn’t just this test flight – this is the start of a fantastic campaign that is going to extend our exploration.
Program manager David Reynolds says the entire future of spaceflight depends on this first uncrewed attempt to return to the moon.
As you tick off the different boxes, you buy down a certain amount of risk for the crewed flight. And so, once you have made that determination and we decide that it is safe enough to fly with crew, we will have considered it a mission success.
It’s been more than a half century since astronauts journeyed to the moon. Well folks, that’s about to change.
Standing in Houston, Texas before the current astronaut corps and veterans of the Apollo and Space Shuttle programs, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson introduced the four-member crew of Artemis II – Christina Koch, Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman, and Canadian Jeremy Hansen.
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This is humanity’s crew.
Reid Wiseman is mission Commander for Artemis II, while Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen will serve as mission specialists. Koch is set to make history as the first woman on a lunar mission and Hansen as the first international astronaut to take such a journey, something NASA Administrator Nelson emphasized during the announcement.
We choose to go back to the moon and on to Mars, and we are going to do it together, because in the 21 century NASA explores the Cosmos with international partners.