‘D-Day’ for Artemis II: Astronauts reach the ‘dark’ side of the Moon today, we bring you all the details

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Isaacman said during the interview that the flyby of the moon is expected on April 6, which, according to previous USA Today reports, will occur during a six-hour period when the sun, moon and Orion spacecraft are aligned. This should give the crew a view of the Moon that cannot be seen from Earth.

Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Hammock Koch from NASA and Jeremy Hansen from the Canadian Space Agency are on the 10-day flight of the Orion spacecraft, which will also help officials plan future Artemis missions.

– I would say that we are largely focused on the ecosystem, the life support system of the spacecraft. This is the first time astronauts have ever flown this spacecraft – Isaacman told CNN on April 5.

– This is what we are most interested in and what will help in planning the next missions – he added.

Artemis III, scheduled for launch in 2027, will send a crew of astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft to test the performance of one or both lunar landers being developed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin. Officials will also use the mission to test spacesuits, known as extravehicular activity suits, for astronauts on the surface of the moon.

The Artemis IV mission in 2028 includes a moon landing.

While the purpose of the current Artemis mission is to orbit the moon, CNN’s Jake Tapper also asked Isaacman about what all sci-fi fans are most interested in – extraterrestrial life.

– Does the possibility of the existence of extraterrestrials affect how you plan NASA’s missions at all? Tapper asked.

– Our job here is to try to discover the secrets of the universe. And one of those questions is, are we alone? Isaacman replied.

He added that this is characteristic of each of their scientific or research endeavors.

– Even with the construction of the lunar base on the South Pole of the Moon, at some point we will be able to turn on the telescopes that will help us continue this great search, not to mention all the telescopes that we will launch – said Isaacman.

He joked that he had not encountered aliens on his two trips into space, nor had he seen anything to suggest that intelligent life forms had visited Earth. However, he noted that the universe is huge.

– I would say that the chances that at some point we will find something that will suggest that we are not alone are quite high – said Isaacman. He also noted that the problems with Artemis II’s toilet have been resolved.

The Artemis II crew is the first to have a toilet system on a spacecraft that will orbit the Moon. Modern space toilets were not available during the Apollo missions, so those crews used a plastic bag to collect fecal waste.

“Backups” are built into the wastewater system, Isaacman explained, including different lines to ensure it continues to operate in the event of a problem.

He added that even when they have problems with the primary part freezing, the secondary part works.

Live streaming continues throughout the mission on NASA’s YouTube channel, and the agency is providing a separate stream of live footage from the Orion spacecraft, bandwidth permitting, as well as from inside the capsule.

Daily mission status briefings are held live from the Johnson Space Center in Houston during the mission, except on Monday, April 6, due to lunar flyby activities.

Orion’s movement into space can be tracked at nasa.gov/trackartemis.