A day-by-day description of the entire Artemis-2 manned mission
NASA today posted a detailed day-by-day description of the entire ten-day Artemis-2 manned mission around the Moon, outlining the tasks planned for the astronauts on each day.
The launch is now targeting April 1, 2026.
The description of their closest approach to the Moon is both interesting and underwhelming.
The Artemis II crew will come their closest to the Moon on flight day 6, while traveling the farthest from Earth. Artemis II could set a record for the farthest anyone has traveled from Earth depending on launch day, breaking the current record – 248,655 miles away – set in 1970 by the Apollo 13 crew. The distance the Artemis II crew will travel depends on their exact launch day and time.
Over the course of the day, the crew will come within 4,000 to 6,000 miles of the lunar surface as they swing around the far side of the Moon – it should look to them about the size of a basketball held at arm’s length. [emphasis mine]
In other words, Orion is not going to get very close, and in fact, the Moon will only be 2 to 3 times bigger than what we see here on Earth. I suspect the best photographs taken will be those showing both the Earth and Moon, both of which will be relatively small.
Overall, I remain highly concerned about this mission. The life support system has never been tested in space before, and they will spend the first day checking it out in Earth orbit. And the return to Earth will involve using a heat shield that did not perform well on the Artemis-1 mission in 2022, losing chunks during re-entry.
They hope a less stressful flight path will mitigate this issue, but then, they need to hit that flight path perfectly on their way back from the Moon. During yesterday’s briefing it was obvious this was a concern to NASA officials.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
NASA today posted a detailed day-by-day description of the entire ten-day Artemis-2 manned mission around the Moon, outlining the tasks planned for the astronauts on each day.
The launch is now targeting April 1, 2026.
The description of their closest approach to the Moon is both interesting and underwhelming.
The Artemis II crew will come their closest to the Moon on flight day 6, while traveling the farthest from Earth. Artemis II could set a record for the farthest anyone has traveled from Earth depending on launch day, breaking the current record – 248,655 miles away – set in 1970 by the Apollo 13 crew. The distance the Artemis II crew will travel depends on their exact launch day and time.
Over the course of the day, the crew will come within 4,000 to 6,000 miles of the lunar surface as they swing around the far side of the Moon – it should look to them about the size of a basketball held at arm’s length. [emphasis mine]
In other words, Orion is not going to get very close, and in fact, the Moon will only be 2 to 3 times bigger than what we see here on Earth. I suspect the best photographs taken will be those showing both the Earth and Moon, both of which will be relatively small.
Overall, I remain highly concerned about this mission. The life support system has never been tested in space before, and they will spend the first day checking it out in Earth orbit. And the return to Earth will involve using a heat shield that did not perform well on the Artemis-1 mission in 2022, losing chunks during re-entry.
They hope a less stressful flight path will mitigate this issue, but then, they need to hit that flight path perfectly on their way back from the Moon. During yesterday’s briefing it was obvious this was a concern to NASA officials.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Let’s hope and pray that the 1st doesn’t turn out to be Artemis Fool’s Day.
Related:
CAPITALISM X’s NERD = EARTHS / MARS ENERGY FUTURE
“Capitalism is always the solution, NEVER Socialism.
Capitalism like all constructs of man can become a problem if abused, and all constructs of man can and will be abused. But ultimately when you put real need in line with human intellect (Nerds) and technology within the structure provided by the Constitution plus Capitalism (incentive) in finding real solutions to real problems, that is where a consistent positive prosperous future lies, FOR EVERYONE.”
Read the rest: https://www.sigma3ioc.com/post/capitalism-x-nerd-earths-mars-energy-future
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Re: your final sentence about NASA concern about risk level on this mission
I’m not sure which exchange struck you in this regard, and maybe it was the same one that struck me? Because I was more than a little surprised to hear John Honeycutt and Lori Glaze say what they said about a probabilistic risk assessment — and apparently Rachel Kraft was too, judging by how she jumped back in to cut off any follow up questions:
Thanks to Keith Cowing for transcribing all of that, saving me the trouble of typing it.
Honeycutt has his LOC number on Shuttle rather off, but I suppose that’s a niggle; maybe he’s using some internal study I don’t know about.
What Honeycutt did and regretted instantly was reveal the true risks of this mission. It really is as risky as Apollo 8, without the larger political Cold War issues that forced Apollo 8 to take those risks.
There is no reason to fly this mission with people around the Moon. None. Isaacman himself admitted as much when he changed Artemis-3 from a landing to an Earth-orbit docking and rendezvous test mission.
It is especially foolish to do it manned with that questionable heat shield. I noticed that Honeycutt was very worried about it, in noting that he wanted to get the flight path exactly right on return, because of that heat shield.
Similarly, why fly a 10 day mission out to lunar distances with an untested life support system? Shouldn’t you first test that system for 10 days in Earth orbit, as was done with Apollo 7, prior to Apollo 8?
Actually, the Moon will be substantially larger than we see her from the earth. From earth, her diameter subtends an angle of around 0.51 to 0.54 degrees from earth. arctan(2160/240,000 miles)=0.52 degrees.
vs 6000 miles from the Moon >>> arctan(2160/6000) = 19.8 degrees, about 40 times larger, as you would expect since you are now 40 times closer to the Moon.
Now the b’ball at arm’s length >>> arctan(9.5/30 inches) = 17.6 degrees. The Moon WILL look like a basketball held at arm’s length when you are 6,000 miles from it on the far side.
Richard M: I’m deleted the obscenity by Honeycutt. Just because Cowing doesn’t mind such things does not mean I allow them here.