Artemis 2 set to launch today to orbit the moon

Shirley Martin

Shirley Martin

Well-known member
NASA's historic Artemis 2 moon mission is set to launch later today (April 1) from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, taking a crew of four astronauts on a mission to the far side of the moon for the first time since Apollo 17 left in 1972.

At 23:35 UTC on Dec. 16, 1972, the Apollo 17 command module, America, successfully completed its trans-Earth injection burn, sending it and its crew of NASA astronauts Gene Cernan, Harrison Schmitt, and Ronald Evans on a return trajectory back to Earth. The moment marked the final time a crewed Apollo spacecraft was in orbit around the Moon, and since that moment, no crewed spacecraft has ever ventured to the Moon’s vicinity.

Four astronauts will fly on Artemis II, with three from NASA and one from CSA. The international crew represents many firsts in spaceflight, including the first person of color, the first woman, and the first non-American to travel beyond low Earth orbit. The four-person crew will also set the record for the largest number of people in deep space at one time, breaking the record first set by Apollo 8 in December 1968.

Would you go? My son and I talked about it yesterday. If I was young and healthy, I'd jump on it like a duck on a June bug. He would, too.
 
Ed Wilson said:
I remember watching the Apollo missions on TV, especially the moon walks. Any TV pictures this time around should be much improved and in color. Considering all that could go wrong, I'll say a little prayer.

I would have gone in my 20's but nobody asked. Now, only if I could be home for supper.
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I will also be very interested in following the launch and seeing pictures transmitted back to earth. From my recliner. :D
 
I heard that it launched and I was admittedly a little worried about it but a few minutes ago when I looked up and saw that the moon is full, all my worries left me.
I mean, if the moon were at 1/4 phase or even a half moon, the ship would have more of a chance of missing it.
 
I got to wondering about the namesake of Artemis so....

Artemis is the Greek goddess of the hunt, wild nature, wilderness, and chastity, and is one of the principal Olympian deities. As the twin sister of Apollo and daughter of Zeus and Leto, she is often depicted as a young huntress carrying a bow and arrow, and is closely associated with the moon.

It's seems very appropriate.
 
I have to agree with my Senior Sorority Sisters, @Beth Gallagher & @Krystal Shay that I have no interest in travel other than here on SOC. One thing that struck me about space travel, that would be senior friendly, is there is no danger of falling and breaking bones.

While no falling is a big win win, the toilet facilities I find lacking. I mean when :poop: travels uphill, that is upright scary. :ROFLMAO: I don't think using the toilet standing on my head, would work out well for me. Of course the zero gravity might finish off my damaged inner ear and I wouldn't know my head from my butt, anyway. :sneaky:
 
I was really looking forward to watching this, but we were clouded in and couldn't see anything from our yard. The TV coverage was good, though.

My 6-year-old great-granddaughter has had NASA fever for over a year and plans to become an astronaut. I got her a little flight suit that she loves to wear and a trip to Kennedy Space Center was her all-time favorite.

NASA had a program where you could sign up to have your name on a computer disk that would go on the mission. I signed the kids up and was able to print up a really nice-looking "boarding pass" and pages of info about the crew and the mission. I printed up sets for both kids.
 
I know for certain that I'll never be able to go to space but I sure would love a ride on the "Vomit Comet", the plane that attains great altitude and then dives steeply, to give you a short period of zero or near-zero gravity. That's one thing I always loved about roller coasters and vertical accellerators.....that feeling of weightlessness.
 
Ed Wilson said:
I got to wondering about the namesake of Artemis so....

Artemis is the Greek goddess of the hunt, wild nature, wilderness, and chastity, and is one of the principal Olympian deities. As the twin sister of Apollo and daughter of Zeus and Leto, she is often depicted as a young huntress carrying a bow and arrow, and is closely associated with the moon.

It's seems very appropriate.
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Thank you for the history of the name.I likr history.
 
Bobby Cole said:
I heard that it launched and I was admittedly a little worried about it but a few minutes ago when I looked up and saw that the moon is full, all my worries left me.
I mean, if the moon were at 1/4 phase or even a half moon, the ship would have more of a chance of missing it.
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That's funny right there, Bobby. :ROFLMAO: Imagine missing the moon if it was in Crescent. :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:
 
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Faye Fox said:
That's funny right there, Bobby. :ROFLMAO: Imagine missing the moon if it was in Crescent. :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:
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Now, just to be the devil’s advocate for a moment, as of March 3rd, NASA along with some Italian agency established a lunar GPS system that will help guide the rocket to wherever it is they are going.

To me, BAD idea. If it’s anything like our earthly GPS, the astronauts may find themselves making a hard left along the way and land in Burbank.
 
Captain, I gotta ! For heavens sake, just hold it until we get to a rest stop !! Really?

It wasn’t very long into their flight to the moon that a major problem had made itself known. The waste management system was broken. Ya know, that system that turns human waste into whatever it’s supposed to turn into. Yeah, THAT management system.

Fortunately, the crew worked as a full on (and probably needy) team and got the rig fixed. Good thing too.
As Rod Serling might have said, “Imagine this. A few thousand miles into space and ya gotta call Elon M. to send up Roto Rooter in another rocket.”
 
Corporate media coverage has been pretty dismal on this. Most people (who are aware of it at all) have any idea what the mission goals are. Fewer still understand the greater goals this one paves the way for.

It's about establishing a permanent base that will ramp toward making use of the resources to create breathable oxygen and hydrogen & oxygen as rocket fuel, as well as harvesting heluim-3 for use in nuclear fusion reactors.

The Chinese are racing to stake the territory first and dominate the future.

15 minutes:

 
Don Alaska said:
The media don't want to cover it since it is another Trump success. They only cover stuff that doesn't go his way.
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I agree that's a big part of it. But the media are controlled by interests on the other side of the Atlantic. I wish more people would watch the high-quality space opera The Expanse. It shows how things might well go once America falls once socialist Europe takes over the UN and establishes it as a world government.
 
I don't see the reasoning for going to the moon. Not like we can live on it once we get thru destroying earth.
If China builds a base there, Trump can just blow it off, upi know, he likes blowing things up.
 
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