The serene view of the Pale Blue Crescent from the Artemis II Orion Integrity spacecraft this morning, now located 70,920 km away in its elliptical orbit, high above the Pacific Ocean, west of Peru, as the astronauts grab some sleep after a hectic day yesterday.
Integrity, the Artemis II Orion Integrity spacecraft, is located 71,245 km away, almost 2x the alt. of GSO, in a highly elliptical orbit, above the Pacific Ocean, west of Peru.
After reaching Apogee, it will turn around and execute a Perigee Raising Burn at around 8:15 a.m. EDT (12:15 UTC) and head back towards Earth.
12 hours later, at Perigee, it will execute the Translunar Injection Burn and shoot for the Moon.
https://www.n2yo.com/?s=99999&live=1
https://eyes.nasa.gov/apps/solar-system/#/sc_artemis_2
https://www.nasa.gov/artemis-ii-press-kit/
24/n
Artemis II astronauts woke up this morning at 7:06 a.m. EDT with the song “Sleepyhead” by Young and Sick.
They then completed the perigee raise burn by igniting the Orion service module’s main engine for 43 seconds, which modified the trajectory to a 191x70133 km elliptical orbit. Perigee in another 12 hours or so.
The crew members will rest for another 4.5 hours before they are again awakened to start their first full day in space.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIW-w-P2nOc
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/missions/2026/04/02/artemis-ii-flight-update-perigee-raise-burn-complete/
25/n
Artemis II has a total of 28 camera systems, many for internal and external inspection and navigation, 4 located on each of Orion’s 4 solar arrays.
The fixed engineering cameras are primarily meant for in-flight inspection of the spacecraft. But they also opportunistically capture images of Earth and the moon in the background.
The astronauts carry two handheld Nikon D5 digital SLR 20.8 MP cameras for hi-res images and videos.
https://talkoftitusville.com/2025/12/24/what-cameras-will-the-artemis-ii-astronauts-have-aboard/
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20230017638/downloads/1325_Melendrez_Orion%20Imaging%20Capabilities.pdf
26/n
Check out this dashboard for real-time status and telemetry from Artemis II.
h/t @cdnspace
https://fosstodon.org/@cdnspace@mstdn.ca/116336006900298832
27/n
Cubesats deployed by Artemis II in High Earth Orbit:
TACHELES, German Space Agency: Effects of space env on electrical components.
K-RadCube, Korea AeroSpace Admin: Space radiation and its biological effects
Space Weather CubeSat-1, Saudi Space Agency: Space weather at a range of distances from Earth
ATENEA, Argentina's Space Agency; Assess radiation shielding methods, measure Earth's radiation spectrum, collect GPS data and validate a long-range comm link
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6197&context=smallsat
28/n
Artemis II Trans Lunar Injection (TLI) burn coming up at 7:49 p.m. EDT.
The 349-second burn will increase Integrity's speed of ~11,000 m/s by 388 m/s and stretch the current 191x70,133 km elliptical orbit to go ~7,400 km beyond the moon and return back to earth.
A few minor burns will be made during the trip to fine-tune the trajectory.
The graphic below shows the approx. location of Integrity and the moon - now, during TLI and around April 6-8.
Go #Artemis2!
One might consider it foolhardy for Artemis II Orion to come screaming down at 11 km/s to 191 km altitude, cross the paths of the LEO constellations and debris around 500 km, perform the TLI to adjust its speed and trajectory and race away, without colliding with anything.
But we can be assured that all that is taken care of and LEO satellites will maneuver to get out of the way as needed.
😱🤞
https://satellitetracker3d.com/track?norad-id=27426
30/n
Artemis II TLI complete. All systems good.
Here is a view of Earth from the spacecraft at altitude ~200 km during the TLI.
Integrity and the 4 astronauts are now headed for the moon.
Current orbit is 202x501,181 km, but the actual values will be slightly smaller due to gravitational interaction with the moon.
31/n
@AkaSci Nice graphic! I haven't found anywhere that is continuously streaming imagery from any of those.
Any links/ideas?
Edit: Oh there is a feed at:
https://www.nasa.gov/live/
@AkaSci I think I've just nabbed the same feed from NASA.gov/live.
Yeah I see what you mean about the break-ups. Nice to ride along though!
@michaelgemar
Starlink? Starlink satellites look down at earth, not up or sideways at other spacecraft.
Currently, Orion is at ~70,000 km altitude.
NASA has continuous telemetry and video from Artemis II using DSN; they just aren't webcasting it, as one would expect.
@michaelgemar
Artemis II is also carrying an Optical Communication System, which will use lasers to communicate with earth, at very high data rates.
I have not read much about, yet. That should bring us some high-res video from the vicinity of the moon.
It amazes me what a big deal this is and how little people are noticing because of all the other terrible distractions.
RE: https://f.cz/@xChaos/116333479114503737
@photovince
There is some energy optimization related reason for this orbit and trajectory. Also, unlike uncrewed missions, this spacecraft needs to head for the moon within a day or two after launch.
See post by @xChaos for some more info -
AkaSci 🛰️
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