Artemis II Beyond the Moon and Back
Stay up to date with this historic flight beyond the Moon and back!
Scheduled to launch no earlier than 6:24 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, April 1 imagine, if you can, what it must be like to be those astronauts pictured above.
Try this. Go out tonight. Look out towards the Moon. Focus. Get real still. Now feel yourself strapped in. Less than ten seconds to launch and you must keep it together; as Alan Bean would have said, “It is being ready to do what you must do, in the moment, no matter what.” The rocketship roars to life and shakes you to your core.
Moonbound!
Imagine!
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And now for some interesting facts!
- The Orion Crew Survival System (OCSS) suits that the astronauts are wearing in the photo above are worn during take-off and landing.
- International Orange is the color of the suit and it is chosen for how it visibly stands out; during say an ocean rescue scenario.
- Besides the OCSS suit, a separate spacesuit would be worn for Extravehicular Activities (EVA) like a spacewalk. The Artemis II mission will not have any of these EVA suits on board, even though it would be technically possible to exit the capsule. There are no planned EVAs for the Artemis II mission. Exiting would require depressurizing the entire capsule, as there is not an airlock chamber.
- Astronauts are allowed a Personal Preference Kit (PPK) (love these acronyms!). It measures about 125 x 200 x 50 mm and may be filled with up to 1.5 kg of their Very Own Precious Carry-on (VOPC). A fun thing to do with your kids is to have them make their own NASA spec PPK and then fill it with their VOPC!
Author: John Aviste, P.Eng.
