Teams
Forum List
Toggle sidebar

Artemis 2 Launch - Going Back to the Moon

mj4cy said:
Loved watching the launch. Such a cool moment to see with my wife and kids (we all went to Kennedy Space Center recently).

What's the best site or feed to watch coverage/progress? I know NASA has their youtube channel.
Click to expand...
That youtube channel is by far the best. Its live 24 hours a day.
 
  • Like
Reactions: cyfanatic and mj4cy
ISUTex said:
Are the rockets coming back to Earth and self landing like the Space X rockets do?
Click to expand...

No, I looked up the official Artemis info document. Looks like a lot of items reused from the shuttle program, like the main engines and rocket boosters with an extra segment. They pulled out all the things that would make them recoverable to increase payload and decrease cost.

Think I saw all the engines but one have previously been flown on shuttle missions.
 
  • Like
  • Informative
Reactions: riceville98, Klone85, ISUTex and 1 other person
Urbandale2013 said:
www.space.com

Here's what the Artemis 2 astronauts will be doing on each day of NASA's historic moon mission

The crew's 10-day mission will be filled with science, spacecraft tests, medical checks, survival training and more.
www.space.com www.space.com

Wondering if there is a better timeline to know when to check back. Would really like to watch the next burn but no idea when that is.
Click to expand...
My bother is a aerospace engineer and has worked on both commercial and military rockets. He said he would never get on top of a rocket. Prayers for the safe return of the astronauts.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Letterkenny
CtownCyclone said:
No, I looked up the official Artemis info document. Looks like a lot of items reused from the shuttle program, like the main engines and rocket boosters with an extra segment. They pulled out all the things that would make them recoverable to increase payload and decrease cost.

Think I saw all the engines but one have previously been flown on shuttle missions.
Click to expand...
This is correct. Some of the engines are actually quite old! The boosters are an upgraded variant of the shuttle boosters as well. The Orion capsule is an all new design, but majority of the launch system is more like a 2018 Toyota 4Runner- older but tested, reliable, cost-effective.

They tried to develop a new launch system (Constellation) but just could not get it done primarily due to total cost and funding ups and downs.

At this point, they are just assuming (hoping?) that SpaceX will figure out their BFR Starship within ~5 years and they can just hire that out cheaper for future exploration missions.
 
  • Like
Reactions: riceville98 and Letterkenny
Urbandale2013 said:
www.space.com

Here's what the Artemis 2 astronauts will be doing on each day of NASA's historic moon mission

The crew's 10-day mission will be filled with science, spacecraft tests, medical checks, survival training and more.
www.space.com www.space.com

Wondering if there is a better timeline to know when to check back. Would really like to watch the next burn but no idea when that is.
Click to expand...
I have not been able to find a good schedule that has US times included but, the next big one is TLI burn around 5 to 7 PM tonight Iowa time. The time can shift a bit so that why it's important to tune in early, The burn will last about 6 minutes and will commit us not only to the moon fly around but, also to entry interface and splash down on April 10th (next Friday)

The moon fly by is in the Sunday to Monday timeframe, If I can find refined times on that, I'll post them.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Cyclonepride, stuclone, Letterkenny and 1 other person
riceville98 said:
I have not been able to find a good schedule that has US times included but, the next big one is TLI burn around 5 to 7 PM tonight Iowa time. The time can shift a bit so that why it's important to tune in early, The burn will last about 30 minutes and will commit us not only to the moon fly around but, also to entry interface and splash down on April 10th (next Friday)

The moon fly by is in the Sunday to Monday timeframe, If I can find refined times on that, I'll post them.
Click to expand...
Pretty wild that it's essentially a ballistic missile after the TLI just coasting through space, around the moon and back to Earth with very little flight adjustments needed. The math behind it is mind-blowing.
 
  • Like
  • Winner
Reactions: BigCyFan, CycloneVet and riceville98
mj4cy said:
Saw that NASA essentially hired Space-X to develop the HLS to land on the Moon. Will be excited to see how that process unfolds.
Click to expand...
NASA has hired 2 companies to build lunar landers and Artemis 3 is designed as a test flight to dock with, extract and check out one or both of those landers, The way I understand it, only after Artemis 3 will NASA select the winning lander for the moon landing on Artemis 4.

For those wanting a refresher on docking and extraction of the LEM, go watch the scene in Apollo 13. A couple famous lines from that scene:

"If Swigert can't dock this thing, we don't have a mission"
or
"Come on rookie, park that thing"
 
  • Like
Reactions: Letterkenny
Letterkenny said:
Pretty wild that it's essentially a ballistic missile after the TLI just coasting through space, around the moon and back to Earth with very little flight adjustments needed. The math behind it is mind-blowing.
Click to expand...
It really is amazing that one burn sets the entire rest of the mission and yes the math behind it is mind blowing. They can and will make small course corrections but, they are committed to the free return trajectory after the burn tonight!!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Letterkenny
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Help Support Us

Become a patron
Top Bottom