{"id":45126,"date":"2026-04-01T13:02:27","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T07:17:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/?p=45126"},"modified":"2026-04-01T13:02:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T07:17:27","slug":"nasa-is-shooting-for-the-moon-a-guide-to-the-artemis-ii-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/nasa-is-shooting-for-the-moon-a-guide-to-the-artemis-ii-mission\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA is shooting for the moon. A guide to the Artemis II mission"},"content":{"rendered":"
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., Apr 1, 2026 (AP) : It\u2019s humanity\u2019s first flight to the moon since 1972.<\/p>\n

In a throwback to Apollo, NASA\u2019s Artemis II mission will send four astronauts on a lunar fly-around. They\u2019ll hurtle several thousand miles beyond the moon, hang a U-turn and then come straight back. No circling around the moon, no stopping for a moonwalk \u2014 just a quick out-and-back lasting less than 10 days.<\/p>\n

NASA promises more boot prints in the gray lunar dust, but not before a couple practice missions. The upcoming test flight by Artemis astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen is the first step in settling the moon this time around.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a snapshot of the Artemis II mission.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

– The Artemis astronauts are a diverse and international crew –<\/strong><\/p>\n

The moon is about to welcome its first woman, first person of color and first non-American.<\/p>\n

Koch already holds the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman. During her 328-day mission at the International Space Station spanning 2019 and 2020, she took part in the first all-female spacewalk.<\/p>\n

Glover, a Navy test pilot, was the first Black astronaut to live and work aboard the space station in 2020 and 2021. He also was one of the first astronauts to launch with SpaceX.<\/p>\n

The Canadian Space Agency\u2019s Hansen, a former fighter pilot, is the lone space rookie. Their commander is Wiseman, a retired Navy captain who lived aboard the space station in 2014 and later headed NASA\u2019s astronaut corps. They range in age from 47 to 50.<\/p>\n

The Space Launch System is more powerful than the Saturn V rocket
\nNASA\u2019s new Space Launch System rocket stands 322 feet (98 meters), shorter than the Apollo program\u2019s Saturn V rocket but more powerful at liftoff thanks to a pair of strap-on boosters. Atop the rocket is the Orion capsule carrying the astronauts.<\/p>\n

Made of salvaged space shuttle engines and other parts, the SLS uses the same fuel \u2014 liquid hydrogen \u2014 as the shuttles did. Hydrogen leaks repeatedly grounded the shuttles as well as the first SLS rocket test without astronauts aboard in 2022. More than three years later, Artemis II suffered the same hydrogen leaks during a February fueling practice run, missing the first launch window. A repeat of helium-flow issues bumped the mission into April.<\/p>\n

– How Artemis II will fly around the moon –<\/strong><\/p>\n

After liftoff, the astronauts will spend the first 25 hours circling Earth in a high, lopsided orbit. They\u2019ll use the separated upper stage as a target, steering their Orion capsule around it as docking practice for future moonshots. Instead of fancy range finders, they’ll rely on their eyes to judge the gap, venturing no closer than 33 feet (10 meters) to the stage.\u00a0\u201cSometimes simple stuff is the best,\u201d Wiseman said.<\/p>\n

If all goes as planned, Orion’s main engine will hurl the crew to the moon some 244,000 miles (393,000 kilometers) away. This free-return trajectory made famous in Apollo 13 relies on the moon and Earth\u2019s gravity, minimizing the need for fuel.<\/p>\n

On flight day six, Orion will reach its farthermost point from Earth as it sails 5,000 miles (8,000 kilometers) beyond the moon. That will surpass Apollo 13\u2019s distance record, making Artemis astronauts the most remote travelers. After emerging from behind the moon, the crew will head straight home with a splashdown on flight day 10 \u2014 nine days, one hour and 46 minutes after liftoff.<\/p>\n

– What to expect during the Artemis flyby –<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Artemis II crew may behold never-before-seen regions of the lunar far side \u2014 with the moon appearing the size of a basketball at arm\u2019s length during the closest part of the roughly six-hour flyby. They\u2019ve been poring over maps and satellite images of the lunar far side and anticipate a photo frenzy. Their lunar mentor is NASA geologist Kelsey Young, who will monitor the flyby from Mission Control in Houston.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe moon is like such a unifying thing,\u201d she said. \u201cWhat we’re doing with this mission is going to bring that a little closer to everybody around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Besides professional cameras, they\u2019ll carry the latest smartphones. NASA\u2019s new administrator Jared Isaacman added smartphones to the mission for \u201cinspiring\u201d picture-taking.<\/p>\n

While NASA and private companies have focused over the years on reaching the moon’s near side \u2014 the side that constantly faces Earth \u2014 only China has planted landers on the far side. That makes the astronauts’ observations of the lunar far side all the more valuable for NASA.<\/p>\n

– Artemis astronauts will splash back down to Earth –<\/strong><\/p>\n

Like Apollo, the Artemis mission ends with a splashdown homecoming into the Pacific.<\/p>\n

All eyes will be on Orion\u2019s heat shield as the capsule plunges through the atmosphere. It\u2019s the part of the spacecraft that took the biggest beating during 2022\u2019s test flight, with charred chunks gouged out. The heat shield is being retooled for future capsules but remains the original design for Artemis II.<\/p>\n

NASA is limiting the heat exposure during reentry by shortening the capsule\u2019s atmospheric descent. Navy recovery ships will be stationed off the coast of San Diego as Orion parachutes into the ocean.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., Apr 1, 2026 (AP) : It\u2019s humanity\u2019s first flight to the moon since 1972. In a throwback to Apollo, NASA\u2019s Artemis II mission will send four astronauts on a lunar fly-around. They\u2019ll hurtle several thousand miles beyond the moon, hang a U-turn and then come straight back. No circling around the moon, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":983,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-main-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45126"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45126"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45126\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45128,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45126\/revisions\/45128"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}