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NASA’s Artemis II crew launches to the moon

NASA’s Artemis II crew launches to the moon

After a successful launch, the Artemis II crew is on its way to making history.

Despite a brief delay as NASA worked through some final preparations, the Orion spacecraft —  propelled by the Space Launch System — took off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida just after 6:30 p.m. ET, shortly after the launch window opened. 

In an update following the launch, NASA officials said the four astronauts on board — including mission specialist Jeremy Hansen, from London, Ont. — are safe and secure aboard the Orion.

Over the next 10 days, the crew will be gathering scientific data that could help humans go even farther into space one day. 

If all goes according to plan, the crew will fly past the moon in six days' time. That's also when Artemis II will make history by surpassing the Apollo missions' distance record and travelling deeper into space than any human has gone before. 

After flying around the moon, the Orion will take about four days to get back to Earth. The crew is expected to splash down on April 10. 

We're concluding our live updates on this page, but you can keep following our coverage of the mission on cbc.ca/news.

Now that the astronauts are on their way, what can we expect in the coming hours?

Around 3½ hours into the flight, or any moment now, the ICPS and Orion will separate to around 90 metres and begin a demonstration test. 

Glover will pilot the Orion to within nine metres of the ICPS and test manoeuvrability of the spacecraft. The test should last about half an hour.

Then Orion will start its departure burn, while the ICPS will start its disposal burn. 

Twenty-five hours after liftoff, Orion will begin its translunar injection burn (TLI), and Hansen, Wiseman, Glover and Koch will be on their way to the moon.

Canadian Space Agency president Lisa Campbell and Lt.-Gen. Jamie Speiser-Blanchet, commander of the Royal Canadian Air Force, expressed their awe after this evening's successful launch.

Hansen was an RCAF fighter pilot when he became one of two recruits selected by the CSA in 2009. He has spent 30 years in RCAF service. 

Campbell said she was "thrilled" for Hansen and the space programs of Canada and other countries.

"Awe, wonder, joy.… I'm excited about the future — the days and weeks ahead, but also humanity returning to the moon."

Campbell said there'll be opportunities to get Hansen's thoughts about his experience after the Orion capsule leaves orbit and heads toward the moon.

"I'm excited to hear his impressions, what he's seeing, what he's feeling. That'll be really wonderful," she said.

Hansen officially became the first Canadian to reach deep space after a successful apogee raise burn sent Artemis II beyond low Earth orbit into high Earth orbit.

As the name suggests, low Earth orbit is relatively close to the Earth's surface, at 2,000 kilometres or less, according to NASA. The International Space Station, at around 400 kilometres above the Earth, orbits in this zone. To give you a sense of just how far away that is, most commercial planes don't fly at altitudes above 14 kilometres.

As of 10 p.m. ET, the Orion spacecraft was around 10,000 kilometres from Earth.

Artemis II is expected to surpass the Apollo missions' distance record by the Orion capsule's sixth day in flight, Knight said. 

One benefit of the launch going off as planned today? The astronauts will get a chance to see a lunar eclipse from space, according to Lori Glaze with NASA's Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate. 

"It'll be a pretty cool and unique opportunity," she said.

During the historic space race of the 1960s, NASA's rival was the Soviet Union. Now, it's China.

NASA's new plan, in which Artemis II plays a key role, is to move beyond "footprints and flags" and get going on a permanent base — bricks and mortar, as it were. It's a direct response to China's plan to get their astronauts (called taikonauts) on the moon.

China has made tremendous strides in its lunar program since the turn of the century. It now has its own space station orbiting Earth and has safely landed robotic probes on the far side of the moon — the first and only country to do so. One of them even returned to Earth with moon samples.

Isaacman says competition is part of the reason why NASA is sending astronauts back to the moon after five decades. 

He says financial resources are part of the reason for the long wait, noting NASA's budget is a fraction of what it was in the 1960s. 

But he said congress and administration who came to witness the launch were there "because they know we have competition." 

"We're going to get back into the business of launching rockets on a regular cadence, and we're going to bring the world along with us," Isaacman said.

China plans to have people on the moon by 2030, while India is also sizing up moon missions.

Officials were asked if they've heard from the astronauts about how the flight into orbit went and how that compared to past flights they've taken. 

Norm Knight, director of NASA's Flight Operations Directorate, said they haven't received a full report yet, noting the astronauts are "very busy" right now. 

Knight said he expects they will give a full report in the next day or so. "I personally can't wait," he said. 

NASA officials said the communication issue that happened about 51 minutes into the flight was fixed, but they are still trying to sort out the precise cause. 

Associate administrator Amit Kshatriya said it was "unusual" for the link to drop out for a couple minutes.Asked whether the astronauts have faced any other issues since takeoff, Kshatriya said there was a controller issue with the toilet that will take "maybe a few hours to troubleshoot." 

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