Artemis II launch and mission

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#3477172 2-Apr-2026 12:38

Eva888: Yes. For a few second they showed outside the capsule and there were two small orbs of light below the capsule but the picture switched off to blue screen. Did anyone else see that?

The feed can be rewound. It will be easier to locate when preview is added in a day or so.

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#3477199 2-Apr-2026 14:53

i don't understand why they could put humans on the moon when my grandfather was my age, but today it's a milestone to get humans flying near the moon?

very sorry but i don't get the same amount of excitement from this ...

congratulations nevertheless, at the cost of 6000L / min of fossil fuel combustion!

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#3477201 2-Apr-2026 15:32

Batman:

congratulations nevertheless, at the cost of 6000L / min of fossil fuel combustion!

As far as I can tell, the main booster Fuel is liquid Oxygen and Hydrogen, not dino juice....

The SRB's are solid chemical rockets, (Ammonium Perchlorate Composite Propellant )

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#3477204 2-Apr-2026 15:48

wellygary:

Batman:

congratulations nevertheless, at the cost of 6000L / min of fossil fuel combustion!

As far as I can tell, the main booster Fuel is liquid Oxygen and Hydrogen, not dino juice....

The SRB's are solid chemical rockets, (Ammonium Perchlorate Composite Propellant )

Yes, the four main engines are Space Shuttle main engines. On the NASA stream they said three were actually ex-Space Shuttle engines and the fourth was a new build. All being thrown into the sea at a cost of $2B.

I'm no fan of Musk, but his rocket (or rather, the rocket the geniuses he hired to build for him) is bigger, cheaper, fully reusable and has gotten nearly as far as Artemis in less time and for much less money.

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#3477218 2-Apr-2026 16:30

As I understand it and subject to correction.

Starship is a very long way from being human rated.
Maybe the reuseable landing will never be.
Not that its walking away from landings at this point, and its pretty toasted.

Falcon Heavy is not human rated.
But still not the capacity for the moon mission capsule as its quite heavy to a high lunar transition orbit.

Falcon 9 that takes astronauts to space station is only rated for LEO,
and does not have lift capacity for moon mission capsule.

Elon had a lot of help from NASA, especially in build of the capsule for the space station where a number of corrections had to be done.

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#3477223 2-Apr-2026 16:42

nedkelly:

I would think the cleats/Micky mouse plug looking things would be so they can "lock" their feet/legs into position for launch so they don't move around with all the G forces applying to them.

At a guess, I would have thought they were for staying put in zero gravity.

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#3477239 2-Apr-2026 16:49

Eva888:

Yes. For a few second they showed outside the capsule and there were two small orbs of light below the capsule but the picture switched off to blue screen. Did anyone else see that?

Whaaat? You mean they're filming it against a blue screen like the faked original moon landings?

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#3477241 2-Apr-2026 16:51

Earbanean:

nedkelly:

I would think the cleats/Micky mouse plug looking things would be so they can "lock" their feet/legs into position for launch so they don't move around with all the G forces applying to them.

At a guess, I would have thought they were for staying put in zero gravity.

They're the "flail restraint feature", they lock in to the seat footplate during takeoff and reentry.... like a cycling cleat I guess

https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/70393/whats-this-cloverleaf-3-lobed-shape-in-the-heel-of-this-artemis-astronauts-s

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#3477360 2-Apr-2026 19:03

SaltyNZ: I'm no fan of Musk, but his rocket (or rather, the rocket the geniuses he hired to build for him) is bigger, cheaper, fully reusable and has gotten nearly as far as Artemis in less time and for much less money.

Those are very different missions, different objectives, different capabilities.

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#3477363 2-Apr-2026 19:11

Batman: i don't understand why they could put humans on the moon when my grandfather was my age, but today it's a milestone to get humans flying near the moon?

It's a milestone because this is just one step of a longer program Also, the mission you refer to to was Apollo 11. There were obviously several Apollo missions before number eleven.

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#3477366 2-Apr-2026 19:21

The thing that struck me was how nervous most of the team sounded compared to Apollo missions and shuttle missions. One big factor is they don't have Neil Armstrong ; ).

Another factor may be the increased complexity of Artemis. There are a fewer people in the control room and they all process more information I think.

Likewise the astronauts in the module. They all have a larger number of checklists and jobs to do compared to Apollo. Imo NASA will need to consider cognitive load in future missions. There are aspects of that load that are not healthy and will hinder the ability of the crew to cognitively respond to emergencies.

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#3477379 2-Apr-2026 20:25

Batman:

i don't understand why they could put humans on the moon when my grandfather was my age, but today it's a milestone to get humans flying near the moon?

Yes, you’re right - but if you don’t mind me being pedantic, I think it makes more sense to say ‘how’ rather than ‘why’

I often think about this and marvel at what they achieved back in 1969. It’s a cliche to say it, but it’s true that what they did with the tech available back then is completely astounding. Came with a massive amounts of luck too I think.

One of the great achievements was to keep the invention of ‘blue screen’ - used for filming the landings - under wraps for so long before releasing it for use by TV and movie studios a bit later on.

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#3477381 2-Apr-2026 20:30

eracode:

Batman:

i don't understand why they could put humans on the moon when my grandfather was my age, but today it's a milestone to get humans flying near the moon?

Yes, I certainly understand what you’re getting at - but if you don’t mind me being pedantic, I think it makes more sense to say ‘how’ rather than ‘why’

I often think about this and marvel at what they achieved back in 1969. It’s a cliche to say it, but it’s true that what they did with the tech available back then is completely astounding. Came with a massive amounts of luck too I think.

One of the great achievements was to keep the invention of ‘blue screen’ - used for filming the landings - under wraps for so long before releasing it for use by TV and movie studios a bit later in.

Not to mention the secret pharmaceutical revolution in the creation of safe amnestic drugs so effective against leakage of secrets that even the existence of safe, effective amnestics was utterly forgotten.

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#3477382 2-Apr-2026 20:45

eracode:

Batman:

i don't understand why they could put humans on the moon when my grandfather was my age, but today it's a milestone to get humans flying near the moon?

Yes, I certainly understand what you’re getting at - but if you don’t mind me being pedantic, I think it makes more sense to say ‘how’ rather than ‘why’

I often think about this and marvel at what they achieved back in 1969. It’s a cliche to say it, but it’s true that what they did with the tech available back then is completely astounding. Came with a massive amounts of luck too I think.

When it was published in 2011 I bought this brilliant book about the development of aero and space tech and the interface (and some conflict) between pilots and auto control systems. It covers in detail the tech involved in the moon landings and the hardware and software used in the landing modules.

Good to see it’s still being sold. It may well be available via public libraries.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

gzt

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#3477399 2-Apr-2026 21:47

10 day mission - day by day overview

https://www.space.com/space-exploration/missions/artemis-2-breakdown-what-to-expect-from-each-day-of-nasas-historic-moon-mission

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