Artemis 2 may launch in a month, shattering a 55-year-old spaceflight record
Apollo 13's record distance from Earth has stood for over half a century. Can Artemis 2 launch in time to break it?
We're at roughly T minus one month for the launch of Artemis 2. Here's what we can expect from this journey, the role Canada is playing in it, and how the mission may make history in more ways than one.
The launch window for Artemis 2 is currently scheduled to open no sooner than February 5, 2026. That means, barring any delays due to technical issues or inclement weather, the mission will lift off on that date, fly around the Moon on February 10, and return to Earth by the 15th.
And what is the mission? NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, and Victor Glover, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, will be making the first crewed flight of the Orion spacecraft.
Similar to Apollo 8 back in December of 1968, this will be a multi-day trip around the Moon and back, to assess the spacecraft's performance with a full crew on board.
A map of the Artemis 2 mission, detailing the different stages of the flight, as well as the maneuvers the crew will perform in high Earth orbit, when in close proximity to the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS). (NASA)
Along the way, the astronauts will ensure the spacecraft's life support system is functioning properly, test Orion's maneuverability, and perform various medical and scientific studies. This includes the closest human observations of the Moon in over 50 years.
The ultimate goal is to put NASA on track to launch Artemis 3, which will land astronauts near the lunar south pole, returning humans to the surface of the Moon for the first time since 1972.
The Crew
Artemis 2 will be the first crewed flight for Orion, taking place a little over three years after the uncrewed Artemis 1 test mission.
On board the mission will be four astronauts.
From left to right: Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen, are the four members of the Artemis 2 crew. (NASA)
For mission commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialist Christina Koch, Artemis 2 will be the second spaceflight for each. All three have made previous trips to the International Space Station: Wiseman in 2014, Glover in 2020-2021, and Koch in 2019-2020.
This will be the very first trip into space for mission specialist Jeremy Hansen. As the first Canadian to venture beyond low-Earth orbit, Hansen will support spacecraft operations, participate in scientific and medical experiments throughout the flight, and even make geological observations of the Moon during their flyby.
Despite having high-resolution cameras in orbit of the Moon, such as on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, the geologists training the crew have emphasized the importance of human observations.
As Hansen noted in a December interview with Bob McDonald, for CBC Radio's Quirks and Quarks, he was initially skeptical that they, the crew, could pick out anything on the lunar surface from space that the satellites hadn't.
However, after their training was complete, he found himself convinced that the human eye and the human brain were essential for picking out not just the differences in the features and terrain, but also to spot what he called the "different kind of different," to guide where future missions may wish to explore.
Making History
Artemis 2 is set to make history in several ways.
Not only is this the first human mission to the Moon in roughly 53 years, it is the largest human crew ever sent on a single lunar flight.
Additionally, Victor Glover will be the first person of colour, and Christina Koch will be the first woman to travel to the Moon. Also, Jeremy Hansen will be the first non-American to make the journey.
Remarkably, due to the Moon's position in its orbit at the time, these four astronauts could set a brand new spaceflight record, reaching the farthest distance humans have ever travelled from Earth.
A comparison of the Artemis 2 mission to Apollo 13, noting the differences in distance between the Earth and the Moon, and the Moon and the spacecraft, as each passed around the far side of the Moon. (Scott Sutherland/NASA SVS)
This is highly dependent on the exact date of the launch, and if the mission sticks to the 10 day schedule for the flight.
If Artemis 2 lifts off on February 5, the crew should pass around the far side of the Moon on the 10th, when the Moon is at apogee (its farthest distance from Earth for that orbit). As they fly 7,500 km above the lunar surface at that time, their maximum distance from Earth will be around 413,700 km. That's over 13,500 km farther than the Apollo 13 record of 400,171 km, set back on April 14, 1970.
After passing through apogee on the 10th, the Moon will get closer to Earth, day by day, approaching perigee on the 24th. Thus, if there is a launch delay, each day they wait narrows the difference between the Artemis 2 and Apollo 13 distances.
Launching any time between February 10-28 means that Apollo 13's record will stand, and they would need to wait and lift off in early March or early April for their next chances to break that record. After that, due to the orbit of the Moon, the mission would have to be delayed until later this year to try again.