NASA shares thrilling sneak peek at humanity’s imminent return to the moon
NASA has shared a cinematic trailer for the highly anticipated Artemis II mission.
NASA Artemis II: Counting Down to Our Next Moon Mission
The excitement is building as NASA works toward launching its first crewed lunar flight in more than five decades. The Artemis II mission, which will take four astronauts on a 10-day voyage around the moon, could lift off as early as February 6.
NASA has just released a cinematic trailer for the highly anticipated mission. You can watch it via the player embedded at the top of this page.
“We will see things that no human has ever seen … pushing ourselves to explore is core to who we are … it’s part of being a human,” one of the crew members, Victor Glover, says in the video.
Glover will be flying alongside fellow NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman and Christina Koch, as well as Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
Their Orion spacecraft will be powered to orbit by NASA’s massive SLS (Space Launch System) rocket, which arrived at the launchpad at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida last weekend.
After several days in an elliptical Earth orbit during which the astronauts will test Orion’s performance in manual control, the crew will fly on toward the moon, coming within 3,300 miles of the lunar surface as it flies around Earth’s closest natural satellite.
“We’re going to turn the spacecraft so you can have the best view of anybody of the moon in 50 years,” Jeff Radigan, the Artemis II lead flight director, said in a recent NASA documentary about the mission. “We want to ensure that we’re getting the videos of the moon that all of us back here on Earth want to see, and ensuring that all of our systems work on the far side of the moon as well.”
After 10 days in space, the Orion and its crew will splash down in the ocean at the end of a major mission that will pave the way for Artemis III, which plans to put the first humans on the lunar surface since 1972.
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
Mars has never looked so serene in this gorgeous image from a NASA rover
Nearly 14 years ago, NASA’s Curiosity rover landed on Mars for a mission to explore the red planet and discover if it had an environment capable of supporting microbial life.
Over the years, the rover has also been beaming back striking images of its surroundings, including the stunner at the top of this page captured toward the end of last year.
NASA’s mega moon rocket has arrived at the launchpad. What’s next?
Humans could be flying around the moon in just a few weeks from now.
NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft reached the Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Saturday following a 4-mile, 12-hour crawl from the Vehicle Assembly Building.
The rocket is being prepped for the Artemis II mission, which will carry three Americans and one Canadian on a voyage around the moon, taking humans further from Earth than ever before.
How to watch SpaceX Crew-11 splash down a month early
A medical issue with one of the astronauts prompted NASA to bring the crew home early.
It’s turned into an unusual mission for SpaceX’s Crew-11. Instead of remaining at the International Space Station (ISS) for the full duration of their mission, the four crew members are coming home a month early due to a medical issue with one of the astronauts.
Crew-11 departed the ISS on Wednesday afternoon and is due to splash down in the early hours of Thursday. Read on for full details on how to watch.
