Artemis II Crew Able to Fly Across the Moon on “Integrity” – SpacePolicyOnline.com

Today the 4 Artemis II crew members introduced the identify they’ve chosen for his or her Orion capsule — Integrity. During an hour-long information convention, they conveyed readiness for his or her mission to fly across the Moon a number of months from now and hope that it would result in “peace and hope for all humankind.”

NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen shared their ideas about what Artemis II means to them and to U.S. led-human area exploration total because the clock ticks right down to liftoff someday between February and April of subsequent 12 months.

They emphasised this can be a check flight. The aim is to fly across the Moon, however the spacecraft and life help methods first should move checks in Earth orbit earlier than NASA decides to execute the Trans-Lunar Injection (TLI) burn. Once that occurs, the crew is on its manner past the Moon, a distance of about 250,000 miles. They’ll be on a free-return trajectory that can deliver them again to Earth even when Orion’s propulsion system doesn’t carry out as deliberate, however after TLI it’s a nine-day journey.

“When we get off the planet we might come right back home,” mission commander Wiseman defined. “We might spend three or four days around Earth.  We might go to the Moon. That’s where we want to go, but it’s a test mission as we are ready for every scenario.”

If they do go across the Moon, it is going to be the furthest human beings have ever been into area, however Koch stated they’re not targeted on information. “It’s not about farthest, first, fastest, longest, it’s about the teamwork, and the work that went into” the mission and the “dedication” it took to beat challenges.

The worldwide character of the mission got here up repeatedly. Glover cited the oft-quoted saying “if you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, go together.” NASA has labored onerous to distinguish Artemis from Apollo by together with business and worldwide companions. Hansen is Canadian and Orion’s Service Module is offered by the European Space Agency. Japan and the United Arab Emirates are also contributors in Artemis, constructing elements of the Gateway lunar area station together with NASA, Canada and ESA. The U.S. already has agreed to fly European and Japanese astronauts to Gateway or the lunar floor.

That’s all sooner or later. Artemis II needs to be successful earlier than Artemis III can land the primary American astronauts on the Moon since Apollo. The crew stated at the moment enabling Artemis III is their measure of success.

We look by way of the lens of mission success, which is Artemis III getting again to the floor of the Moon. We do all this coaching, all this preparation. We’re shopping for down all this danger, at all times occupied with what are we handing off to the subsequent crew? Is what we’re creating going to assist them obtain that goal. That’s only a actually neat manner to take a look at this.  — Jeremy Hansen

Hansen went on to say Artemis II is also concerning the pursuit of excellence and extra broadly nonetheless a sense of hope. “We know that Artemis II is not the solution for humanity on planet Earth,” however “we hope that just for a moment that people will pause and say, wow, it’s extraordinary.”

Wiseman constructed on that theme when revealing the identify they’ve chosen for his or her spacecraft. The 4 of them plus their backups, NASA’s Andre Douglas and CSA’s Jenny Gibbons, “locked ourselves in” a quarantine facility till they agreed on one thing that conveyed “core values.”

“We began with the NASA core values. And then we appeared on the Canadian Space Agency core values. And then we talked about what issues to us most in our core values. And then we appeared out at what’s going on with Artemis II. What do we wish this to be? We need it to be successful for Artemis III. But Jeremy hit it, you understand, peace and hope for all humankind. That is what we actually need.

And so we’re bringing collectively the world. We are bringing collectively an incredible workforce. And they’re bringing collectively an incredible automobile. And on the finish of all that, while you squeeze all of it down, it created magic.

So we’re going to fly across the Moon within the spacecraft Integrity.” — Reid Wiseman

In a separate information convention yesterday, Lakeisha Hawkins, performing Deputy Associate Administrator of NASA’s Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, stated February 5 is the primary potential date for the launch, however April stays the official goal. Many elements will resolve when it truly happens. First amongst them is when the rocket, spacecraft and crew are prepared, however climate — on Earth and in area — are simply as vital.

Space climate is brought on by coronal mass ejections (CMEs) from the Sun that create breathtaking auroras on Earth, but in addition can disrupt electrical methods and orbiting satellites. Earth’s environment and magnetic subject defend people on Earth from sick results, however astronauts flying past Earth orbit are uncovered to the radiation. Coincidentally, three area climate satellites have been launched this morning that can assist in detecting and forecasting CMEs: NASA’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) and Carruthers Geocorona Observatory, and NOAA’s Space Weather Follow on-Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1). The Artemis II crew can shelter in Orion’s storage compartments if there’s a CME throughout their 10-day flight.

Last Updated: Sep 24, 2025 11:59 pm ET