CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – People are going to the moon for the first time in more than 50 years, and to build off the success of the Artemis I uncrewed flight test a few years ago, the program’s first astronauts will have to do a lot more than just enjoying the view.
Adding people to a flight around the moon obviously makes Artemis II more complicated and more risky, but it also brings new mission objectives which NASA said will pave the way towards landing astronauts on the moon.
Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen will work on experiments to study how deep space affects their bodies and minds.
The crew is testing the Orion spacecraft’s life support system for the first time.
In 2022, the crew capsule only had a mannequin onboard.
“So, when they launch, they spend a full day in Earth orbit just testing Orion to make sure that those systems are all working right before they commit to going all the way to the moon,” CBS News space analyst Bill Harwood said. “That’s a very big deal.”
It’s also a big deal this mission to be these two - Taylor Hose and Christian Warriner will be some of the last people the astronauts see before they come home about ten days later.
Hose and Warriner talked to your Cape Canaveral Community Correspondent James Sparvero about what it’s like to be part of the Artemis closeout crew that straps the crew into Orion.
They even dressed like it’s launch day.
“Specifically for closeout crew, we work with the Artemis II flight crew - getting them into the vehicle, getting the hatches closed on launch day, and making sure that vehicle’s ready to fly for the crew,” Hose said.
Sparvero then asked them if they plan on saying any special words to the crew just before liftoff.
“I genuinely think it’s just gonna come in the moment,” Warriner said. “We’ll just have to see when that time comes.”
NASA described how close the moon will look to the crew like if you were to imagine holding a basketball at an arm’s length from your face.
Their lunar flyby will their chance to take pictures of the far side of the moon and the lunar surface where NASA hopes astronauts will step foot in just another two years.