Nasa’s Artemis crew gets green light to make big push to the moon

he Artemis II crewed lunar mission lifts off from the Kennedy Space Centre on Wednesday.

Photo: AFP Nasa gave the four Artemis astronauts circling Earth the green light on Thursday to head for the moon and carry out the first crewed lunar fly-by in more than 50 years.

Nasa Flight Director Jeff Radigan told the astronauts the mission management team had approved firing up the engine of their Orion capsule to send the spacecraft on a trajectory towards the moon.

The 5 min and 49 second burn is scheduled to take place at 7.49pm Eastern Time and send the astronauts out of Earth orbit to begin the three-day voyage towards the moon, the first since 1972. “Flight controllers will closely monitor engine performance, guidance, and navigation data throughout the manoeuvre to ensure Orion remains precisely aligned for the outbound journey,” Nasa said.

The enormous orange-and-white Space Launch System (SLS) rocket carrying the Orion capsule blasted off flawlessly from Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on Wednesday for the long-anticipated journey around the moon.

The astronauts – Americans Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch and Canadian Jeremy Hansen – spent their first hours in space performing checks and troubleshooting minor problems – including a communications issue and a malfunctioning toilet.

Before getting a few hours of sleep, they ignited the spacecraft’s main engine to place it in a high Earth orbit, the US space agency said. “Artemis II astronauts are doing great,” Nasa chief Jared Isaacman said in a post on social media. “The Orion spacecraft is performing well in an impressive elliptical orbit.” Orion is to loop around the moon as part of the 10-day Artemis II mission aimed at paving the way for a moon landing in 2028.

Before their rest period, the astronauts performed various checks to ensure the reliability and safety of a spacecraft that has never carried humans before.

Among the problems they identified was a “controller issue with the toilet when they spun it up”, said Amit Kshatriya, Nasa’s associate administrator.

Isaacman, the Nasa chief, said a communications problem had been resolved and the astronauts were “in great spirits”.

The Artemis II crewed lunar mission lifts off from the Kennedy Space Centre on Wednesday.

Photo: AFP The mission marks a series of historic accomplishments: sending the first person of colour, the first woman and the first non-American on a lunar mission.

If all proceeds smoothly, the astronauts will

原文链接: 南华早报