Here’s what you need to know about where the Artemis II astronauts are now and when they’re expected to arrive near the moon.
The Artemis II astronauts may have embarked on a historic lunar mission, but they’re not fully headed toward the moon yet.
In fact, the four-person crew likely just woke up from some much-needed sleep the morning after they finally touched down from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center on their long-awaited mission. The Orion capsule carrying the Artemis II crew will remain in orbit around Earth for much of Thursday, April 2, until preparations begin to send the ship to the moon.
A crew of four, including NASA astronauts Reed Wiseman, Christina Koch and Victor Glover, and Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency, will now embark on the farthest space adventure in human history. The mission will make Glover the first black man to venture near the moon, Koch the first woman and Hansen the first Canadian.
Artemis II, considered primarily a test mission, could be a major step toward NASA’s goal of returning astronauts to the moon for the first time since the Apollo program ended in 1972. The mission, expected to last about 10 days, will be a key demonstration that NASA’s Orion crew capsule can handle a human-capped lunar mission before an attempted landing as early as 2028.
Here’s what you need to know about where the Artemis II astronauts are now and when they’re expected to arrive near the moon.
Where is Artemis 2 now?
Artemis II astronauts are still orbiting Earth in NASA’s Orion space capsule at a height approximately 184 times higher than the International Space Station.
The crew was scheduled to wake up around 7 a.m. ET on Thursday, April 2, after getting about two hours of sleep, according to the latest mission blog update from NASA.
Next, the astronauts will prepare to raise Orion’s perigee. Perigee is an astronomical term that refers to the point at which an object is closest to Earth in a continuous orbit. This maneuver will send the Orion spacecraft on a four-day journey to the moon, known as the menstrual ejection burn.
Once their mission is complete, the astronauts will resume sleeping around 9:40 a.m., NASA said.
Artemis II flight path
The diagram below from NASA provides a visual representation of what Artemis II’s flight path will look like.
Artemis II Tracker
Want to follow astronauts along Artemis II’s journey to the moon? NASA has an Artemis II tracker available online and in a mobile app that lets users see where Orion is, how fast it’s moving, and how far the spacecraft is from both Earth and the moon.
The mobile version for smartphones also includes an augmented reality feature that allows users to move their phone to see where Orion is in relation to Earth.
When and where was Artemis II launched?
NASA’s Artemis II mission launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Wednesday, April 1 at 6:35 pm ET.
The agency’s towering 322-foot Space Launch System rocket provided the initial explosive power to propel the Orion spacecraft carrying astronauts. Launching with 8.8 million pounds of thrust, the Space Launch System is considered the most powerful rocket ever launched by NASA, about 17 percent more powerful than the iconic Apollo-era retired Saturn V.
Following launch, a complex series of steps took place within the first few hours of the mission to prepare the Artemis II crew to begin a 10-day journey around the moon in the Orion capsule.
This included having both the SLS rocket’s core stage and upper stage installed separately and at different times from Orion, which deployed a solar array to draw power from the sun while reaching high Earth orbit at an altitude of approximately 46,000 miles.
When will Artemis II reach the moon?
If all goes as planned, Artemis II will reach the moon and make its historic lunar flight on Monday, April 6th.
Astronauts aboard Orion, which plummets off the far side of the moon, are expected to travel the furthest distance from Earth ever reached by humans, surpassing the record of 248,655 miles set in 1970 during the infamous Apollo 13 mission. Astronauts will fly by the moon 6,000 miles above the surface and get a glimpse of the entire celestial disk, a sight not seen even by the Apollo astronauts.
How long will the Artemis II mission last? When they land on Earth
Once the lunar rendezvous is complete, the astronauts will make a four-day journey to Earth, using Earth’s gravity to naturally pull Orion toward Earth without the need for propulsion or large amounts of fuel.
As Orion breaks through Earth’s atmosphere, its protective heat shield is removed to provide a place for the parachute to deploy and slow the craft.
The capsule will then likely splash down in the Pacific Ocean near California on Friday, April 10, after which five orange airbags will inflate around the top of the spacecraft, flipping the capsule into an upright position. After landing, the crew will leave the vehicle and board the recovery vessel within approximately two hours.
Eric Lagatta is a Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Please contact elagatta@usatodayco.com.
