The Artemis II crew, consisting of Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen, recently shared their experiences from their historic mission to the moon at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado. The crew was greeted by a crowd of over 8,500 people, who were eager to hear about their journey.
The 10-day mission, which began on April 1 and ended on April 10, marked the first crewed flight to go beyond low Earth orbit in 53 years. The crew flew around the moon and back, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean.
Reflections on the Mission
The crew members expressed their gratitude and awe at the experience, with Victor Glover, the pilot of Artemis II, stating that he was still blown away by the trust that NASA had in them to fly the spacecraft by hand. Glover also highlighted the proximity operations demonstration, where the crew guided the spacecraft through a series of controlled approach and retreat maneuvers using the detached upper stage as a reference target.
Reid Wiseman, the commander of Artemis II, noted that the crew learned a lot about the habitability of the Orion spacecraft, particularly in terms of life support systems and how to eat, live, work, and sleep in the spacecraft. Wiseman also mentioned that the crew had to sort out some heat shield issues during the mission.
Future Missions
NASA’s associate administrator for the Human Spaceflight Mission Directorate, Lori Glaze, announced that the Artemis III mission is scheduled to launch in mid-2027. The mission will demonstrate docking with one or both of the two landers, the Blue Origin and the SpaceX lander. Glaze also mentioned that the fidelity of the demonstration versions of the landers will be good enough to green-light an actual human moon landing on the Artemis IV mission.
However, there is ongoing discussion about whether the lunar south pole is an advisable location for the first human landing of the Artemis Program. Victor Glover recently stated that he thinks there’s a need to be realistic and progressively work towards the south pole locale rather than landing there first.
International Cooperation
Jeremy Hansen, the Canadian mission specialist, highlighted the international character of the Artemis II mission, stating that it was a deliberate contribution to the planet and that billions of people on Earth need to join forces to work together. Hansen also mentioned that the crew took items with them on their excursion around the moon, including handwritten letters and a cow figurine.
Mitchell Landsberg is the senior reporter for News Raise and focuses on Technology. Mitchell regularly writes about social media platforms and how influencers, industry and general people use them to communicate and make money.
