The ten-day journey of Artemis II

On Dec. 7, 1972, NASA launched the Apollo 17 and that was the last moon mission in over 50 years, until April 1, when the four-person crew of Artemis II launched. The plan of the mission was to validate the Orion spacecraft’s life support systems that were put in place to keep the astronauts safe and to set the groundwork for future missions. While in the process of this, it broke the record for the distance humans have traveled in space, which was previously held by Apollo 13 at 248,655 miles. Artemis II now holds the new record of 252,756 miles, according to NASA, when answering the most common questions about Artemis II. The mission lasted 10 days, going from April 1 to April 10. 

Day 1: At approximately 6:35 EST at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the rocket was launched. The launch was a success and the goal of day one was to get into orbit and to check life support systems while still being close to Earth, but still in space.

Day 2: The track towards the moon was set and then the crew began setting sail towards the moon on the correct trajectory. On this day, the main engine was separated, dropping off all the used fuel tanks and allowing for a smoother voyage around the moon.

Day 3: After the eight-hour rest period, preparations for the Lunar Flyby were made and the timeframe for the flyby was set for April 6. After the course was set, important health and safety demonstrations were done, such as CPR.

Day 4: Astronaut Victor Glover had a piloting demonstration and took manual control of the spacecraft to get more data about the qualities of controlling the spacecraft in deep space. After the piloting demonstration, the crew made plans to study the surface of the moon during the scheduled flyby. During this flyby, the spacecraft flew 4,066 miles above the surface, which allowed the crew to see the moon’s full surface all at once. On account of the crew going onto the far side of the moon, there was a planned radio blackout from approximately 5:47 PM to 6:27 PM EDT.

Day 5: More preparations were made. With the space suits, for example, the crew did leak checks to make sure that there were no leaks in the suits. More fine-tuning was done on the track to the moon. 

Day 6: April 6 was the day of the lunar flyby. The main task that would be done that day was doing the full flyby. Multiple other things were done that day, such as breaking the record of the distance humans have gone, breaking Apollo 13’s record by over 4,000 miles. Observations were made, such as lava flows coming from ancient crater impacts which were different in color and brightness, opposed to the rest of the surface. This evidence of ancient crater impacts will be able to help scientists learn more about the history of the moon. Beginning at 1:56 PM EDT and ending at 9:35 PM EDT, the flyby was a success.

Day 7: After the successful lunar flyby, the journey home started. There was a period of rest for the crew, giving them time to rest before doing their tasks to return home. The journey home began at 9:03 PM EDT, marking the beginning of the end of the trip.

Day 8: The start of the day had the crew testing out the Orthostatic Intolerance Garments, which is a part of a suit that regulates blood pressure and circulation to not put any crew members in danger. This suit was also made to prevent a condition called Orthostatic Intolerance. This condition is caused by spending a lot of time in low gravity, and it makes it difficult for astronauts to stand upright when in normal gravity again. After this testing, another manual flight demonstration was done at around 10:55 PM, and splashdown was set for day ten.

Day 9: The return was in full swing, starting then. The thrusters were first ignited for nine seconds, going 5.3 feet per second. Splashdown was set for April 10 at 8:07 PM off the coast of San Diego.

Day 10: Splashdown was set and the course was made, with the crew being sent back to Earth for the end of the first manned moon mission in over 50 years. Artemis II brought humans back to space and extended the knowledge about distance in space and it broke the distance record for humans to Earth, having a full lunar flyby and increasing interest in space. At approximately 8:07 PM, off the coast of San Diego with the splashdown being a success.

The mission has been widespread throughout the nation, including the students at Ventura High School. Benjamin Nichols ‘29 said, “I think [humans returning to space on similar missions] is an advancement that should have been made several times and they haven’t, which is crazy.” Carter Koontz ‘29 said, “Yeah I saw it, I thought it was pretty amazing to see live and I think that people going back to space is pretty cool as well.”

In conclusion, Artemis II was the first mission in 53 years that humans went on a space mission for science.