![]() ![]() The crew will use Orion’s onboard cameras and the view from the spacecraft’s windows to line up with the ICPS as they approach and back away from the stage to assess Orion’s handling qualities and related hardware and software. During the demonstration, mission controllers at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston will monitor Orion as the astronauts transition the spacecraft to manual mode and pilot Orion’s flight path and orientation. The expended stage will have one final use before it is disposed through Earth’s atmosphere-the crew will use it as a target for a proximity operations demonstration. For perspective, the International Space Station flies a nearly circular Earth orbit about 250 miles above our planet.Īfter the burn to enter high-Earth orbit, Orion will separate from the ICPS. The second, larger orbit will take approximately 42 hours with Orion flying in an ellipse between about 235 and 68,000 miles above Earth. This maneuver will enable the spacecraft to build up enough speed for the eventual push toward the Moon. After the first orbit, the ICPS will raise Orion to a high-Earth orbit. The orbit will last a little over 90 minutes and will include the first firing of the ICPS to maintain Orion’s path. The spacecraft will first reach an initial orbit, flying in the shape of an ellipse, at an altitude of about 115 by 1,800 miles. With crew aboard this mission, Orion and the upper stage, called the interim cryogenic propulsion stage (ICPS), will then orbit Earth twice to ensure Orion’s systems are working as expected while still close to home. The initial launch will be similar to Artemis I as SLS lofts Orion into space, and then jettisons the boosters, service module panels, and launch abort system, before the core stage engines shut down and the core stage separates from the upper stage and the spacecraft. Orion will perform multiple maneuvers to raise its orbit around Earth and eventually place the crew on a lunar free return trajectory in which Earth’s gravity will naturally pull Orion back home after flying by the Moon. The mission will launch a crew of four astronauts from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in 2023 on a Block 1 configuration of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. The flight profile is called a hybrid free return trajectory. ![]() “This mission will prove Orion’s critical life support systems are ready to sustain our astronauts on longer duration missions ahead and allow the crew to practice operations essential to the success of Artemis III.” Leaving Earth “The unique Artemis II mission profile will build upon the uncrewed Artemis I flight test by demonstrating a broad range of SLS and Orion capabilities needed on deep space missions,” said Mike Sarafin, Artemis mission manager. ![]() Building on those early missions, NASA’s Artemis program will return humans to the Moon for long-term exploration and future missions to worlds beyond, including Mars. Their mission will be to confirm all of the spacecraft’s systems operate as designed with crew aboard in the actual environment of deep space. The Artemis II flight test will be NASA’s first mission with crew and will pave the way to land the first woman and next man on the Moon on Artemis III. PHOTOGRAPHER: Josh ValcarcelĪstronauts on their first flight aboard NASA’s Orion spacecraft will travel farther into the solar system than humanity has ever traveled before. SUBJECT: Official crew portrait for Artemis II, from left: NASA Astronauts Christina Koch, Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman, Canadian Space Agency Astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
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