Astronauts Head for Moon After Half-Century Absence

Fifty-three years and 109 days ago, astronaut Eugene Cernan was the last man to walk on the moon. He closed the hatch on his lunar module with a farewell message. He declared that humans would return one day. On Wednesday night, four astronauts who weren’t even born when Apollo 17 ended its mission set out on a return trip. 

An Orion spacecraft carrying astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen blasted off from Cape Canaveral at 6:35pm Eastern. Their 10-day Artemis II mission will bring them 4,000 miles from the moon’s surface in a single orbit. The flight is a practice run for a planned Artemis III moon landing perhaps sometime next year. 

Artemis II is the first crewed mission in the program. It is meant to test out the Orion ship. It's also meant to test the Space Launch System. It's the rocket that's propelling it. During the mission, the crew will test the ship’s communication, emergency functions, life support, and navigation systems. They’ll even take spins on the spacecraft’s flywheel exercise device. It looks like a rowing machine. 

The crew will spend the first day in high Earth orbit. They'll then venture outward towards the moon. It'll take three days to reach the “lunar sphere of influence.” That's where the moon’s gravity is stronger than the Earth’s. On Day 6, the crew will engage in a single orbit around the moon at a much greater distance than the Apollo missions. The Apollo missions came as close as 60 miles from the lunar surface. That’s what is likely to make this mission the farthest human-crewed venture into space. The crew returns home the next day.  

As the rocket ascended, Wiseman declared: “We have a beautiful moonrise, and we’re headed right at it.” Wiseman is the mission commander.

Reflect: What might it feel like to take part in something important that people have been waiting a long time to happen?

Photo of NASA's Artemis II launch from Reuters.