☝️ Artemis is off to the moon.
Continue to watch this NASA feed for live mission coverage. This YouTube channel will continue live 7/24 for the next 10 days throughout the mission.
A great account/thread to follow for more detailed information on Artemis is here from @AkaSci
Whew. That was crazy.
For about 10 minutes they lost comms with the spacecraft.
They rebooted the ground communications system, and are now talking with the spacecraft again.
Apparently the astronauts could hear mission control, but mission control could not hear the astronauts. Some bidirectional data comms were never lost.
Continues to be fascinating...
Right now, the start up of the toilet has hit a snag (amber light). They are trouble shooting the system.
Everything else seems 'nominal', meaning OK.
Press conference on right now.
Super interesting and informative.
Just want to comment on how refreshing it is to watch dry uncensored straightforward public agency reporting versus the type of PR and boosterism coverage we get from private space corporations who carefully restrict information and even cut off if things don't go well.
Kudos to NASA!
Now they are performing some maneuvers to pilot the spacecraft as would be required in docking maneuvers.
They are going to undock from the ICPS (the first stage) and then approach the ICPS as if it were something they were actually docking with, coming close (15m) from the ICPS.
Edit: Incredible!!!
Edit2: What a great spacecraft! He is reporting how responsive, precise and smooth the maneuvers are.
They have now backed away from the ICPS and are going to turn the ICPS and perform some docking maneuvers with the side of the ICPS...
Everything seems to continue to go well. The astronauts are stowing gear and getting ready to sleep for four hours. They will then wake up and perform a burn to adjust their orbit. Then they will sleep again for five hours. After this sleep period they will begin preparing for the burn maneuver that will take them to the moon.
Pleasant dreams and good luck to our brave explorers.
[This YouTube channel provides 7/24 live coverage of the mission: https://www.youtube.com/live/m3kR2KK8TEs]
The astronauts are waking up now and getting ready for day 2 of their mission. All is going well.
Wiseman and Glover will begin their day setting up and checking out Orion’s flywheel exercise device.
Later, the main event of the day – the translunar injection burn, the maneuver that will set them on the path to the moon, will be done by Orion’s main engine on the spacecraft’s European Service Module.
Follow all the action live: https://www.youtube.com/live/m3kR2KK8TEs
For really splendid technical information on the Artemis II space mission, an absolutely invaluable source here is @AkaSci.
Stay tuned to this thread...
They have just reported all GO for the TLI burn in about 3 1/2 hours. This is very good news.
h/t AkaSci: Artemis II TLI scheduled for 7:49 p.m. EDT.
Edit Wrong: [Apparently they continue to have problems with the PWD (Personal Waste Device...]
Edit: Toilet is fixed for more: https://apnews.com/article/nasa-artemis-astronauts-moon-6ef3f195b4d4f8abcbfa908cacea6da6
Correction: They are discussing gathering some water before the TLI as a backup since they had a water valve problem yesterday, which has been resolved, but as a contingency they want to gather water before the TLI burn.
NASA's moonbound astronauts have reason to celebrate, and not just because their launch went so well. Their toilet is now working. The so-called lunar loo malfunctioned as soon as they reached orbit Wednesday evening. Mission Control guided astronaut Christina Koch through some plumbing tricks and she finally got it going. The bad news is that it's so cold inside the Orion capsule that the four astronauts are digging into suitcases for long-sleeved clothes. The three Americans and one Canadian are on track to bust out of orbit around Earth on Thursday night and zoom to the moon for a fly-around.
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Big thumbs up from the crew for the maneuverability of the Orion spacecraft.
It's amazing how they can make small precise transversal and rotational movements in free space.
💯 Anyone who has ever played Kerbel Space Program knows how important a good maneuvering spacecraft is.
So pleased Orion is working so well!
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