If you want, you can “fly” with Artemis II: the crew is already preparing for launch, which will take place in the spring. The mission will not land on the Moon, will not plant a flag, will not take a “small, giant step” – but it still has a significant importance. A small, symbolic and nice mechanism was added to it: you can send your name and surname into space. Literally. From humanity, for humanity.
We are talking about the first manned flight to the Moon since the Apollo program and the first time when people will fly aboard Orion carried by the SLS rocket. I won’t see the Moon up close through the window, nor will I feel the enormous g-forces during takeoff and landing, but I will still send my name and surname to NASA. Let it fly into space, at least this way I will be able to experience space, so what!
How to send your name to the Moon? (without rocket in garage)
NASA has provided a portal where you enter your name and surname and create a short PIN code. It is worth writing down or remembering this PIN – because if you lose it, there is no option to remind your password. Even a souvenir from a space mission has its own safety rules.
After registering, you receive a digital Artemis II “boarding pass”. You can print it, save it, put it in a photo frame… whatever. The card includes the mission patch, starting location, destination, and equipment details. There is also distance: beyond 685 thousand milesi.e. approx 1.1 million kilometers. This is more than three times the Earth-Moon distance. It’s cool, it stimulates the imagination and for space maniacs, it’s just a nice thing.
Artemis II is the first manned mission of the Artemis program and the first time humans will fly into space on a Space Launch System rocket and an Orion capsule. NASA is doing something absolutely fascinating here: checking whether the entire system is ready to return humanity to the Moon. Because Artemis I – an unmanned flight – was an important test, but it did not answer the most difficult question: how it would work when there are people on board.
The flight is expected to last approximately 10 days. The astronauts will spend their first days close to Earth, testing Orion’s systems. The service module will then fire its engines, which will push the craft out of Earth’s orbit and onto a trajectory toward the Moon. And then the real part will begin: a four-day flight and a protective umbrella in the form of a quick emergency return option. Flying towards the Moon will be more difficult.
To the Moon and beyond
Artemis II’s trajectory will follow a figure-eight path and take the crew beyond the side of the Moon that is far from Earth. Orion will be above 230 thousand miles from Earth, i.e. approx 370 thousand km. That’s right: the mission will also fly more or less 7,400 km beyond the Moon — further than anyone before in the history of manned flight.
The further from Earth, the more the limitations of technology become felt: communication delays, the problem of cosmic radiation, the logistics of life support and energy management. It is in such conditions that NASA wants to test the systems that are to become the basis for future landings. Artemis II is one big thing in the entire series of missions: “I check” before the final “touchdown”.
Four main names
The Artemis II crew is specific, well-known and proven – they are heroes, people who simply have to deliver the topic:
This is the first such configuration: Americans and Canadian, a mission without landing, but with a full set of tests that are important for the next steps of the Artemis program. Moreover, the mere presence of people on board changes absolutely everything: safety procedures, failure management, physiology, crew mentality, work planning. Space is an extremely inhospitable place and does not forgive any mistakes. Everything has to go perfectly here.
The name campaign is a clever addition here: on the one hand, it builds engagement, and on the other, it creates a mass “footprint” of the mission in culture: it is needed, because Artemis is strangely little heard of compared to the frenzy before and during the Apollo flights. More than 100,000 boarding passes have already been issued 1.8 million. One more name on the memory card does not change anything in the mission, but… it gives a sense of a kind of community in the world. And we’ve had a major problem with this lately.
What is NASA actually testing?
The mission will also include research payloads that will collect data on cosmic radiation, the impact of deep space conditions on the body, and communication beyond Earth’s orbit. This is a topic that is less interesting in the media, but extremely important if someone is serious about the Moon as a starting point for Mars. The issue of recognizing the immunity of the human body is also important. Starting from stress and ending with the impact of cosmic radiation, of which there will be a lot in the operational areas of the mission.
Orion’s return to Earth will be one of the most challenging stages of the mission. The capsule will enter the atmosphere at high speed and then splash down in the Pacific Ocean, near San Diego. NASA and Department of Defense teams will be waiting there to pick up both the crew and the ship.
Read also: A NASA rocket is already waiting for astronauts. The moon will soon have guests
This is important because the recovery of the capsule is to be proof that the entire mission cycle works: through the launch, flight and systems, to flight and finally entering the atmosphere and retrieving the crew and equipment. Here, “roughly it worked out” is not enough. The ENTIRE mission is supposed to succeed. If my humble addition to this page helps the crew mentally in any way, I will be very happy. They certainly won’t be cheering for my part on the ship, I don’t expect such flowers. But even if I have to be “just a statistic” in this initiative, this mission is so important that I simply cannot refuse.
Do you want to fly on the Artemis II mission? Sign up here!
