April first. The full Moon rises pink over Kennedy Space Center. Four astronauts wait atop the most powerful rocket NASA has ever built. No human has left low Earth orbit since Richard Nixon occupied the White House. Fifty-three years. Apollo seventeen flew in December nineteen seventy-two.
Artemis II is not a landing. Ten days. A shakedown cruise for Orion and the European service module. Life support. Navigation. Propulsion. Communications. Every system must prove itself with people inside before NASA commits boots to the lunar South Pole.
Commander Reid Wiseman. A Navy test pilot who flew F-14 Tomcats from carrier decks. One hundred sixty-five days aboard the International Space Station. Later he ran the Astronaut Office at Johnson Space Center. Pilot Victor Glover becomes the first person of color to fly beyond low Earth orbit. Mission Specialist Christina Koch becomes the first woman. Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen becomes the first non-U.S. citizen.
The Space Launch System lifts them to orbit. Then the trans-lunar injection burn sends Orion on a four-day outbound leg around the lunar far side. A figure-eight trajectory reaching more than two hundred thirty thousand miles from Earth. Farther than any Apollo crew traveled. The BBC lists launch windows from April one through April six, with additional chances later in the month.
The February twenty twenty-six full Moon rose behind the Artemis II stack on the pad at Kennedy Space Center. A preview of what may come.
Recovery teams from NASA and the Department of Defense will retrieve the capsule in the Pacific off San Diego after splashdown. Then the real work begins. Proving the hardware works so Artemis III can touch down.
Green Matters reported the target launch date was February sixth, twenty twenty-six, subject to change. The crew plans roughly two days checking Orion systems and a targeting demonstration relatively close to Earth before the trek toward the Moon. Orion’s European-built service module provides the trans-lunar injection burn. At mission conclusion, recovery forces comprising NASA and Defense Department personnel will guide the crew back to land after Pacific splashdown off San Diego.
Sources
- Pink Moon launch – NASA's Artemis II mission could blast off right at the peak of this week's full Moon | BBC Sky at Night Magazine
- Prepare for Launch: NASA's Artemis II Moon Mission
