Sara Moore
Science Editor
On Friday, April 10, the crew of Artemis II, aboard the Orion, splashed down off the coast of San Diego following their ten day journey in space. This historic trip began on April 1 and marked the first crewed mission to orbit the moon since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. However, this return to the moon is not the only reason why Artemis II was a mission for the history books.
The four person crew of the Orion consisted of Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, and Mission Specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen. Glover is the first person of color, Koch the first woman, Hansen the first non-U.S. citizen and Wiseman the oldest person to travel beyond Earth’s low orbit and around the moon. This mission was the first crewed launch of the Orion vehicle and the first to use a Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. Artemis II was the first crewed launch to be overseen by a female launch director, Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, from the Launch Control Center (LCC) at the Kennedy Space Center in Merritt Island, Florida. The Orion traveled farther from Earth than any other manned craft in history, reaching a distance of 252,757 miles during its loop around the moon. Finally, the crew of the Artemis II were the first humans to directly view parts of the far side of the moon, which included naming a previously undiscovered crater “Carroll,” after Wiseman’s late wife who passed away from cancer in 2020.
As the first manned mission in the 21st century, the crew of the Orion quickly endeared themselves to users across social media. For many people, this was the first manned lunar mission they had ever witnessed, and the diversity of the crew made many viewers feel seen. At their homecoming celebration on Friday, Hansen said, “When you look up here, you’re not looking at us. We are a mirror reflecting you. And if you like what you see, then just look a little deeper. This is you.” While in space, the crew shared many moments of humanity with mission control and people around the world. In addition to the emotional moment where the crew chose to honor Wiseman’s wife, Wiseman also showed off a friendship bracelet and made a heart with his hands for his two daughters, which prompted Houston’s viral response of “copy heart, copy bracelet.” During a livestream of the lunar flyby, a NASA communications member quoted Rocky from the movie “Project Hail Mary,” saying “amaze, amaze, amaze.” Rise, a zero-gravity indicator for the crew, was designed by eight-year-old Lucas Ye from California and became the mission’s unofficial mascot. NASA also shared the playlist used to wake up the crew, following the tradition established by the Apollo missions. This playlist featured songs selected by the crew and their families including “Green Light” by John Legend and “Pink Pony Club” by Chappell Roan, the latter of which was cut short, much to the crew’s dismay, as Wiseman told mission control, “we were eagerly awaiting the chorus.” Artemis II’s popularity online shows that there is still an interest in space travel in the modern day.
Artemis II is part of a larger series of NASA missions named after Artemis, the Greek goddess of the moon. Artemis I launched in November 2022 as an uncrewed test flight of the Orion ship and the SLS rocket. Artemis III is set to launch in mid-2027 and will test the docking abilities between the Orion and private commercial spacecrafts needed to land astronauts on the moon. Artemis IV, which is scheduled for early 2028, will be the first lunar landing since Apollo 17. The crew will transfer from the Orion to a commercial spacecraft which will bring them to the surface of the moon and back. If this mission is successful, Artemis V will launch in late 2028 and NASA will begin building a base on the moon. NASA’s current plan following Artemis V is to send one mission to the moon every year.
Artemis II sets the stage for future crewed missions and a return to the moon’s surface. The astronauts managed close quarters and issues with the hull to ensure the success of upcoming Artemis missions. The crew documented the far side of the moon, recording geological features that cannot be fully captured by cameras. The Orion showed that humans are prepared for deep space travel and gained valuable information that may be used in the future for manned missions to other planets. Finally, we saw that space travel has a place in the modern world and that people are still fascinated with the final frontier.
