The astronauts who flew NASA’s Artemis 2 mission around the moon splashed down less than a week ago — and they’re back at work helping the agency prepare for the program’s next giant leap.
NASA’s Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch and the Canadian Space Agency‘s Jeremy Hansen captivated the world earlier this month, as they flew on a 10-day mission around the far side of the moon and back to Earth aboard the Orion spacecraft “Integrity.”
“We wanted to go out and try to do something that would bring the world together, to unite the world,” Wiseman, the Artemis 2 commander, said during a press conference on Thursday (April 16).
He thanked not only those at NASA who helped ensure the astronauts’ safe return but also members of the media and the world at large for “just tuning in for a second and getting hooked on this mission.”
Artemis 2 was the first crewed mission of the Artemis program, as well as the first crewed flight of the Orion space capsule. Principally, Artemis 2 was a test flight of Orion’s life support systems and a shakedown cruise to verify that the craft can sustain a crew during a mission to lunar space. And from the perspective of the astronauts aboard: Mission accomplished.
Wiseman and his crewmates said they gained a deeper understanding about life aboard Orion during their time in space. And what they learned bodes well for future Artemis missions.
“The thing that really surprised me on this mission was how well the spacecraft handled and how well the machine supported the four humans on board,” Wiseman said.
“There’s always things we need to improve,” he said, listing a few small items that needed to be troubleshot on orbit, like cabin temperature.
“We were a little cold the first two days. They warmed it up. They fixed everything that we asked,” he said. “They could put the Artemis 3 Orion on the Space Launch System [rocket] tomorrow and launch it, and the crew would be in great shape.”
“It’s important for us to run these processes out,” Glover said, “because we are still making changes and learning ways that we’re going to support the 30- and 45-day missions of Artemis 3, 4, 5. And so it’s really important for us to keep practicing, keeping our heads in the game.”
Artemis 3 is the next launch planned for the program, and will see another crew aboard Orion practice rendezvous and docking maneuvers in Earth orbit with one or both of the contracted Artemis lunar landers. Both SpaceX and Blue Origin have been tapped to provide landers for the program, and NASA indicated a willingness to fly with either or both once Artemis 3 is ready to launch.
That mission is scheduled to lift off in mid-2027, but had, until recently, been slated as the first Artemis moon landing, targeting 2028. Now, with Artemis 2 in the books, Wiseman says that a crewed moon landing seems more obtainable than ever.
“It’s not the leap I thought it was,” he said on Thursday, reflecting on his time approaching and flying around the moon. “If we had a first-flight lander on board that thing, I know at least three of my crewmates would have been in it, trying to land on the moon.”
“It’s going to be extremely technically challenging, but this team needs to show up every day knowing it is absolutely doable, and it’s doable soon.”
If NASA’s schedule holds, and Artemis 3 goes well, Artemis 4 will put astronauts down near the lunar south pole in late 2028.
