Four astronauts in training fly around the moon early next year, attached to their Orion spacecraft this weekend for a dress rehearsal countdown as part of a major step toward launch.
Based on repeated stops and starts observed on NASA’s countdown clock, the complex test originally scheduled for late November repeatedly encountered problems on Saturday. NASA didn’t provide any details, but Artemis 2 commander Reid Wiseman said that overall the test went well.
Artemis 2 astronauts head to their Space Launch System rocket on Saturday for a training countdown to rehearse launch day procedures before a flight around the moon early next year. From left to right: Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen and his NASA teammates Christina Koch, Victor Glover and mission commander Reid Wiseman. / Credit: NASA
“Extremely successful day in our #Integrity spacecraft,” Wiseman said in an article on
The launch is tentatively scheduled for early February, but the schedule is extremely tight and the flight could be delayed until early March. No decision is expected until the first of next year.
Regardless, Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, clad in bright orange pressure suits, strapped themselves into their Orion capsule using the same procedures they will follow on launch day.
Such “countdown demonstration tests” have traditionally taken place shortly before launch, with the rocket and crew already on the launch pad. But for Saturday’s test, the astronauts boarded their spacecraft atop NASA’s massive SLS (Space Launch System) rocket, inside the site’s cavernous Vehicle Assembly Building. Kennedy Space Center.
The Artemis 2 Orion crew capsule, inside a protective launch fairing, and its backup rocket are seen amid the service platforms inside NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center. Unseen is the 322-foot-tall Space Launch System rocket on which the crew capsule is mounted. The Artemis 2 crew attached itself to the Orion on Saturday for a dress rehearsal countdown. / Credit: NASA
During the exercise, the astronauts and launch control team followed the same countdown procedures they will follow on launch day, ending less than a minute before the clocks normally hit zero.
Five launch opportunities are available in February when the Moon and Earth are in the appropriate relative positions. The first such opportunity will arise on February 6. To achieve this date, the SLS rocket and Orion would need to be moved from the assembly building to Pad 39B in mid-January, paving the way for a critical refueling test that must be completed successfully before NASA can launch.
Given the amount of work remaining to complete preparations, sources say NASA may choose to delay the flight until early March.
Each time it takes off, the flight plan calls for the Orion and its crew to spend 25 hours in an elliptical orbit around Earth testing the spacecraft’s life support, propulsion and navigation systems.
The crew plans to fly close to the SLS rocket’s upper stage to test Orion’s maneuvering systems and rendezvous procedures that will be needed for possible lunar landing missions.
An uncrewed Orion completed a similar loop around the Moon during the Artemis Mission 1 in November 2022. But the Lockheed Martin-built spacecraft was not equipped with a full life support system and it did not perform thruster firings like those needed for a rendezvous.
Once testing is complete, the Artemis 2 Orion will leave Earth orbit on a “free return” trajectory that will carry the crew around the Moon and return to a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. The ship will not go into orbit around the Moon.
But Artemis 2 will still be the first piloted trip to the Moon since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972, carrying Wiseman and his teammates further from Earth than any other human has ever traveled.
Artemis 2 astronauts Victor Glover (foreground) and Commander Reid Wiseman suit up before strapping into their Orion capsule for a training countdown. We don’t see teammates Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen. / Credit: NASA
The flight will set the stage for Artemis 3, carrying as-yet-unnamed astronauts to the moon’s surface near the lunar south pole, NASA hopes, in 2028.
Artemis 3 flight was originally planned for 2024, a goal set under the first Trump administration. But the mission was repeatedly delayed due to processing issues, slowdowns related to the COVID pandemic, Super heavy ship testing and work to develop the lunar lander, known by NASA as the Human Landing System, or HLS.
The current 2028 target was set in recent weeks when it became clear that the space agency would not be ready in time for the most recent previous target of 2027.
China also plans to send its own “taikonauts” to the Moon by 2030, creating a new space race in a way, the one that NASA promises to win.
A New Mexico monastery where silence calls
Kevin Hassett says $2,000 tariff controls for Americans will depend on Congress
The Enduring Message of “It’s a Wonderful Life”
