By Claire Blakely (Y10)
“5…4…3…2…1… Blast off!” shouts the commander from mission control, as everyone watches in amazement. In a moment that marks a giant leap for mankind, astronauts embark on a daring journey beyond the safety of Earth.
On Wednesday, April 1st, the spacecraft Orion launched into space carrying four daring crew members. The team included Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Kristina Hammock Koch from NASA, alongside Jeremy Hansen’s from CSA. Their bold objective: to travel further than any previous lunar missions and to observe part of the Moon’s surface never seen before by the human eye.
Each crew member played a vital role in ensuring the mission’s success. Wiseman, an engineer and decorated U.S. Navy pilot, served as the commander. He previously lived aboard the International Space Station for 6 months, conducting scientific research and participating in several moon walks.
Glover, also a highly trained pilot, was the pilot of this mission. He previously flew aboard a SpaceX’s Crew Dragon journey into space, and spent 6 months at the International Space Station. I
Mission specialist Koch, the only woman on the crew, brought knowledge and experience, having spent 328 days in space and participated in the first all-female space walk.
Hansen represented the Canadian Space Agency, communicating for several years with NASA and the ISS from the Mission Control Center. He worked alongside Koch as a mission specialist on his first journey into space.
Now, before we dive deeper into this article, you may be asking: why send another spaceship to the Moon? The answer is straightforward: NASA, along with many other international space agencies, launched this mission to demonstrate key skills, operations, and procedures to ensure that the Orion would be able to land on the moon in future missions.
In addition, the mission allowed astronauts to explore a region of the moon never seen before by the human eye. On the mission, the astronauts set the record for the furthest human distance from Earth, reaching 406, 771 km and surpassing Apollo 13’s previous record of 400,171 km.
Overall, the mission went smoothly, and the crew, with help from the space agencies, were successfully able to accomplish their goal; however, they did encounter a number of challenges.
Just a few hours before the lift-off, the Artemis II mission was declared a “ NO-GO” because there was a communication error between the rocket’s flight termination system and the Eastern Range. This needed to be fixed as it is a crucial safety feature that allows engineers to send a signal to the rocket in the off chance that it changes course during the ascent. The problem was rapidly resolved by a launch controller, and the crew were able to take off with only a few minutes’ delay.
Fifty minutes after launch, connection was temporarily lost between NASA and the Orion space capsule. Although the issue was quickly resolved, the reason for the breach in communication is still unclear.
The most well-known challenge that occurred once the crew were in space was the “Toilet Problem”. The first malfunction occurred because the pump had failed; it hadn’t been “primed” with water, a process required to produce suction in microgravity. Kristina Koch, the mission specialist, found ways to troubleshoot the problem and was able to solve it quite quickly. After that, a water vent line became blocked-most likely by ice—but the crew solved the problem by rotating the spacecraft so that the vent line was facing the sun. After day 4 of the mission, all of their “toilet” problems seemed to be resolved, though they still encountered other difficulties, including a Microsoft Outlook problem.
Finally, after 10 days together in a confined space capsule navigating various technical challenges, the crew splashed down in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. They were recovered by an aircraft carrier and returned to land. Overall, the mission was a huge success despite the obstacles they faced. The crew demonstrated that the Orion could safely land on the moon in future Orion lunar endeavours, and they set the record for the farthest distance traveled from Earth by astronauts. They even got to witness a Moonrise!