Artemis II Crew Conducts Spacesuit Tests, Prepares for Historic Lunar Flyby
Key Takeaways
- Four astronauts travel around the Moon on a ten-day Artemis II mission.
- 40-minute communications blackout behind the Moon during flyby.
- Mission aims to surpass Apollo 13 distance record during lunar flyby.
Lunar Flyby Preparations
The Artemis II crew conducted spacesuit tests and reviewed final science targets.
The suit protects during dynamic flight phases and provides life support in case of depressurization.
An outbound trajectory correction burn was planned to refine the path toward the Moon.
Orion was set to enter the lunar sphere of gravitational influence at 12:41 a.m. EDT.
Historic Lunar Flyby
Artemis II became the first crewed mission to pass through the lunar sphere of influence since Apollo 13.
The crew conducted a seven-hour flyby at about 6,500 kilometers altitude.
The crew faced a 40-minute communication blackout behind the Moon.
Victor Glover framed the blackout as an opportunity to pray and hope.
Optical Communications Demo
Artemis II carried NASA's O2O laser-based optical communications system.
O2O is designed to send data at up to 260 megabits per second.
This was the first time such a system flew on a crewed mission.
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