It was Mission Control’s first translunar injection since Apollo’s swan song in 1972.
WASHINGTON — NASA’s moon-bound astronauts have left Earth’s orbit and are en route to our planet’s celestial neighbor.
The Artemis II crew fired their engines and blazed toward the moon Thursday night. The so-called translunar ignition came 25 hours after liftoff, putting the three Americans and a Canadian on course for a lunar fly-around early next week.
The Orion spacecraft kicked on its main engine for nearly six minutes, providing as much as 6,000 pounds of thrust, the equivalent needed to accelerate a car from 0 to 60 in about 2.7 seconds, to push the spacecraft out of orbit and toward their destination. Their Orion capsule bolted out of orbit around Earth right on cue and chased after the moon to nearly 250,000 miles (400,000 kilometers) away.
It was the first such engine firing for a space crew since Apollo 17 set out on that era’s final moonshot on Dec. 7, 1972. NASA said that preliminary reports indicate it went well.
NASA had the Artemis II crew stick close to home for a day to test their capsule’s life-support systems before clearing them for lunar departure.
Now committed to the moon, the Artemis II test flight is the opening act for NASA’s grand plans for a moon base and sustained lunar living.
Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen will dash past the moon then hang a U-turn and zip straight home without stopping on land. In the process, they will become the farthest humans have ever traveled from Earth, breaking the Apollo 13 distance record set in 1970. They also may become the fastest during their reentry at flight’s end on April 10.
To set the mood, Mission Control’s wake-up music for the crew was “Green Light” by John Legend featuring André 3000. The song segued into the 3-2-1 of the astronauts’ thunderous liftoff, followed by a medley of greetings from NASA teams across the country.
While awaiting their orbital departure, the astronauts savored the views of Earth from tens of thousands of miles high. Mission specialist Christina Koch told Mission Control that they can make out the entire coastlines of continents and even the South Pole, her old stomping ground.
“It is just absolutely phenomenal,” radioed Koch, who spent a year at an Antarctic research station before joining NASA.
Crew members are also having their first exercise sessions on the spacecraft’s flywheel exercise device, a key tool for maintaining strength and fitness during long-duration missions.
Mission Control managed to bump up the Orion capsule’s cabin temperature. It was so cold earlier in the mission — 65 degrees Fahrenheit — that the four astronauts had to dig into suitcases for long-sleeved clothes.
Commanded by Reid Wiseman, the mission is due to end with a Pacific splashdown on April 10. NASA is counting on the test flight to kickstart the entire Artemis program and lead to a moon landing by two astronauts in 2028.
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