Artemis II: Launch window nearly open as NASA astronauts prepare to fly around the moon

SPECIAL insurance coverage | cynthia II makes its number one set in motion attempt

Artemis II launch: Astronauts ready as countdown begins

How Canada earned a seat on Artemis II

'This is bucket list': Space fans gather in Florida to watch Artemis II launch

How Jeremy Hansen trains for space — including the worst-case scenario

What will be going through Hansen's mind before takeoff?

NASA prepares for a historic journey to the Moon

Why are we going to the moon?

Hansen on getting ready for the moon

'How do you brush your teeth in space?' Canadian astronaut tackles questions from B.C. Kids

If everything goes to plan, Jenni Gibbons won’t go to space

Artemis II: What it's like to be there covering the launch

What an astronaut tells their family before going to space

Artemis II crew enter spacecraft

Artemis II crew members — Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen and NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch — have entered the Orion spacecraft after arriving at the launch pad.

NASA is getting ready to launch four astronauts, including Canada's Jeremy Hansen, on a 10-day flight around the moon and back. 

Hansen, Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover and mission specialist Christina Koch have entered the Orion capsule on top of the giant Space Launch System rocket at Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla.

Artemis II is set to take astronauts farther from Earth than any previous human spaceflight. If the mission is successful, the flight could lay the groundwork for future missions to the surface of the moon.

The first of the launch windows runs today from 6:24 p.m. To 8:24 p.m. ET. If today's liftoff is called down, there will be subsequent opportunities every night until Monday.

We'll have live coverage here on this page. In the meantime:

We're just around the corner from Space View Park on Florida's Space Coast.

This is one of the prime viewing spots for liftoff, about 20 kilometres from Launch Pad 39B across the Indian River.

I've spoken to parents like David Queseda, who brought their children here to witness an historic moment and maybe inspire them to consider a career in science or even astrophysics.

Jackie Davis brought her 15-year-old son to show him that everything is possible for him, if he works hard. She says it's a message she didn't have growing up, so seeing the first Black man — Glover — prepare to go into deep space is a huge inspiration. 

A mission like this strikes people differently depending on their age — whether they remember the first 1969 moon walk, or are dreaming about a future that may include visiting Mars.

All those hopes and dreams are being felt by people here waiting to watch the launch.

As the four astronauts slingshot their way around the moon, they'll get a fantastic — if brief — look at it up close and personal, including the moon's far side.

Even so, at their closest they'll still be somewhere between 6,500 and 10,000 kilometres from the moon's surface. (By way of comparison, Vancouver to St. John's, as the crow flies, is about 5,000 kilometres.)

So what will it look like? Put a basketball in your hand and hold your arm straight out sideways.  To the Artemis astronauts, that's about the size the moon will appear out the window, as they whizz past it.

Former astronaut Robert Thirsk, the first Canadian to fly a long-duration expedition aboard the International Space Station, says the 10-day mission will be like the Tour de France for Hansen.

He said that all astronauts are aware of the risks of spaceflight, particularly with a new rocket — but the risks don't compare with the benefits of representing your country in space, fulfilling childhood dreams and showing the world the benefits of cros-country collaboration.

And then there's the view.

"He's going to the moon! No human being has been there for 50 years. He's going to see some things that no one has ever seen before. The dark side, the back side of the moon … seeing the Earth and the moon together in the same frame. That's going to be worth the 10 days."

Roberta Bondar, Canada's first female astronaut, talked about some of the emotions Hansen would be going through today.

"You want to be at the top of your game," she said. "You want to be optimized for everything. You want to remember everything, and you also want to have some memory of that emotion, that moment. And that's really a tough job to have both of those things happening at the same time."

Earlier this afternoon, the Artemis II crew made a walk-and-wave for onlookers. Bondar said during such an event, you want to present yourself as the "courageous person that you know you are and that everyone is expecting you to be.”

"And that is why you don't want to trip."

She remembers being driven to the launch area in 1992 for her space shuttle mission; the rocket "looked like it was going to eat us alive; it was off-gassing and seething."

The launch itself was "like being inside a Roman candle where everything happens at once and the noise is almost deafening."

Bondar said it's a very rough two minutes to start, before the ride becomes smoother — even as the pressure increases against your body as the craft moves faster and faster, finally ending with the free-floating feeling, like being at the top of the roller-coaster.

Astronauts have long relied on freeze-dried meals that are easily rehydrated and consumed aboard spacecraft.

For the Artemis II mission, each crew member has an 11-day menu tailored to meet both their nutritional needs and personal preferences.

There is a food warmer on board — a flat metal box about the size of a small briefcase that takes about an hour to heat a meal.

In a vlog posted by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) last year, Hansen said each crew member selected foods they didn't mind eating at room temperature.

The CSA says Hansen will also have some Canadian goodies with him, including maple products and salmon bites, that he can enjoy with the others.

I once had the privilege of sitting in a mockup of the Orion capsule at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Its conical shape makes it feel like a flying saucer, which, I guess, is appropriate since we're beings from another planet invading the moon.

Alone, the Orion capsule feels quite spacious. As Nicole said, it's like a full-sized SUV with the seats removed. 

But with three other people for almost 10 days? Imagine going on a trip with three friends for a week-and-a-half and none of you can get out of the vehicle the entire time, including to go to the bathroom. 

The psychological challenge of this trip will be almost as great as the technical.

Once the world's most powerful rocket blasts off, separates and splashes down into the ocean, it will likely never be seen again. 

The SLS is a disposable rocket — everything is thrown away except for the tiny crew capsule. That's like buying a new car and driving it until it runs out of gas, then crushing it and only keeping the steering wheel. 

If you want to take another drive, you have to buy a new car — and each one costs more than $4 billion US ($5.5 billion).

While it looks like one solid rocket, the orange SLS core is actually made up of several parts. 

Inside are two massive fuel tanks: one for liquid oxygen and one for liquid hydrogen (that pesky fuel that tends to leak and delay missions; see here and here). 

Then you have the interim cryogenic propellant stage (ICPS). This is the second stage that provides propulsion to the spacecraft. It will orbit Earth with the Orion crew twice and will then separate for a mission objective (more on that to come).

There's also the Orion stage adapter that links the ICPS to the spacecraft. Then there's the European service module, which provides more propulsion as well as power to Orion. 

Finally, there's the Orion crew module, which is what the four astronauts will call home for almost 10 days.

At the top there's the launch abort system which, should there be an issue soon after launch, would separate the Orion spacecraft from the SLS. If all goes well, the launch abort system will jettison roughly 3½ minutes after liftoff.

Let's talk a little about that monstrous orange rocket sitting at the launch pad.

It's called the Space Launch System (no harm in a direct name), or SLS. It stands roughly 98 metres tall, just a bit shorter than the 111-metre Saturn V rocket that took astronauts to the moon in the Apollo days.

The SLS provides about 8.8 million pounds of thrust with its four RS-25 engines, which is more than the roughly 7.7 million pounds of thrust from the Saturn V. The engines were used as the space shuttle main engines on several flights, though they've been upgraded and operate a little differently.

You might also recognize the two white boosters on the side of the orange core stage. Those are reused solid rocket boosters from the space shuttle days. 

A few minutes ago, the close-out team finished securing the last hatch of the spacecraft — the launch abort system hatch, to be specific — another major step ahead of liftoff. 

The launch abort system hatch provides an added protective barrier for the astronauts and enables a rapid escape if something goes wrong, NASA's website says. 

---

---