NASA successfully launched a human spacecraft to the Moon after 54 years

The Artemis 2 crew includes mission commander Reid Wiseman (NASA), pilot Victor Glover (NASA), mission specialist Christina Koch (NASA), and mission specialist Jeremy Hansen (Canadian Space Agency CSA). They sat in the Orion spacecraft, which was lifted into the air by the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket from Launch Complex 39B at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, at 6:35 p.m. on April 1 (5:35 a.m. on April 2, Hanoi time).

The launch time was delayed more than 10 minutes compared to expected because experts previously detected unusually high temperatures in one of the two batteries of the Launch Abort System on board Orion. They later discovered the cause was an equipment error and did not affect the launch plan.

The preparation process for launching Artemis 2 went relatively smoothly. The crew arrived at launch pad 39B at about 2:13 p.m. on April 1 (1:13 a.m. on April 2 Hanoi time), then entered the Orion ship. NASA announced that it would start refueling the SLS rocket at 7:33 a.m. on April 1 (6:33 p.m., same day and time in Hanoi), which requires more than 2.8 million liters of supercooled liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen.

A few minutes after launch, the SLS rocket reached Max-Q, an aerospace industry term used to refer to the moment when the vehicle is subjected to the greatest stress. This phenomenon occurs when the rocket is at a relatively low altitude, the atmosphere is still quite thick, but the rocket is moving at a very high speed, thus creating a moment of extreme pressure.

To prepare for this historic mission, engineers have spent nearly two years assembling SLS, a rocket that is 98 meters tall and weighs about 2,600 tons when fully fueled.

On both sides of the SLS, two solid fuel boosters are mounted like the space shuttle, 54 m high. In addition, this launch system is also equipped with 4 RS-25 engines, also originally designed for the space shuttle. Combined, they generate about 4,000 tons of thrust at launch, making SLS NASA’s most powerful rocket.

Orion will serve as the spacecraft to transport and sustain the crew on Artemis missions, taking them to the Moon and returning them safely to Earth. The ship is about 20 m high, has a total take-off mass of more than 35 tons, can carry 4 people and make a flight lasting 21 days.

Artemis 2 is the first human mission to the Moon since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. The flight, which will last about 10 days, is designed as a stepping stone for NASA’s Artemis program, which will help test the Orion spacecraft’s life support system with astronauts in space for the first time. The crew will not land but instead fly around the far side of the Moon in a “free return” orbit, allowing for an easy return to Earth without firing the ship’s engines multiple times.

The Artemis 2 mission marked a series of milestones in the aerospace industry. For example, the first black astronaut, woman, first non-American to go to the Moon, oldest astronaut to go to the Moon. In addition, the Artemis 2 crew also set records for the farthest flight from Earth (402,000 km) and the fastest atmospheric re-entry speed (40,200 km/h) in the history of space travel.

Artemis, the program aimed at establishing a permanent human presence on the Moon, has encountered many obstacles and delays. The Artemis 1 unmanned mission took place in November 2022, after a series of delays and cancellations. In February this year, NASA also had to postpone the Artemis 2 launch schedule after encountering problems during the fuel loading rehearsal.

If no other major problems arise during Artemis 2, NASA will test Orion and lunar landers in Earth orbit during the Artemis 3 mission in 2027. The agency aims to perform the first lunar landing in 2028 with the Artemis 4 mission. By the 2030s, NASA expects to begin developing settlements, rovers and cargo landing stations, aiming to establish a sustainable presence on the surface. Moon’s face.