Special items are about to be sent to the Moon by NASA

Artemis 2 is the first crewed mission of Artemis as part of NASA’s program to return humans to the Moon. During the mission lasting about 10 days, four astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch (NASA) and Jeremy Hanse (Canadian Space Agency) will fly to the space around the Moon using the Orion spacecraft.

The Orion is expected to carry a small American flag, measuring 33 x 20 cm, which has long “experienced” space travel. The flag was sent into space during the first flight of the space shuttle in 1981 and the last flight of this vehicle in July 2011. It was also featured in the Demo-2 mission, the first human-carrying test flight conducted by SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft.

This is not the only American flag accompanying Artemis 2. Another flag, which was scheduled to fly to the Moon with Apollo 18 but the mission was canceled, will also be present.

Some artifacts from the Artemis 2 mission are even older. For example, a 3 x 3 cm piece of muslin from an original Wright Flyer. In 1903, the Wright brothers made the first powered flight using this vehicle. A smaller piece of fabric was put on the space shuttle Discovery in 1985 and another small piece was also on NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter – the first vehicle to fly on another celestial body.

“The historic artifacts flying with Artemis 2 reflect the long journey of American exploration and the generations of innovators who helped make this moment a reality,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. “The mission will bring together pieces from the earliest achievements in aviation, landmark moments in the history of manned space travel and symbols of the next destination. In celebration of the 250th anniversary of America’s founding, Orion will take astronauts around the Moon, and move American history into the next chapter beyond Earth.”

In addition to aerospace artifacts, Artemis 2 also carries some special soil samples. They were dug from the roots of “Moon trees”, which grew from seeds that flew into lunar orbit and returned to Earth in late 2022 during the Artemis 1 mission. The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) is also sending seeds, while the European Space Agency (ESA), a partner in the Artemis program, will send some souvenirs.

NASA is conducting a series of tests with the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the Orion spacecraft before launch. The fueled countdown exercise is expected to take place on February 2 and the earliest launch date is February 6 if all goes well. NASA has also made a contingency plan with launch opportunities extending until February 11, with additional launch windows in March and April.