Today NASA is once again sending astronauts around the Moon for the first time in 50 years. NASA’s Artemis II mission is scheduled to lift off from Kennedy Space Center today. The two-hour launch window starts at 6:24 p.m. EDT (2224 UTC).
Livestream Links are Below:
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Four astronauts — three from NASA and one from the CSA (Canadian Space Agency) — make up the Artemis II crew:
– NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman, Artemis II commander
– NASA astronaut Victor Glover, Artemis II pilot
– NASA astronaut Christina Koch, Artemis II mission specialist
– Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, Artemis II mission specialist
After launching into space atop NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, the crew will journey around the Moon and back in their Orion spacecraft, named Integrity, on an approximately 10-day mission. Artemis II will be the first crewed flight test of SLS and Orion, testing the technologies we’ll need for long-term lunar exploration and human missions to Mars.
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When viewed later, events like this are sometimes judged to have had a social impact far greater than the actual event warrants. I’m wondering if this launch is one of those times that will be judged as a turning point, unrecognised by many but affecting most.
To the astronauts, God speed and good luck. Nice to have a tangible accomplishment to celebrate, instead of the constant cycle of contrived, artificial and ideologically aligned events we are expected to support.
They will be flying closer to God, and they will be seeing more of His creations.
I hope they will pause for a moment or more and think of this.
And be in awe of His Majesty and Power 🙏🏻
Amen.
The Bible states the Firmament as hammered glass Isiah. There is no possible way man can penetrate it. Look into https://www.dtra.mil/Portals/125/Documents/NTPR/newDocs/ANTHReport/1957_DNA_6005F.pdf
Operation Fishbowl.
No disrespect however our God does not allow mere Man in his domain until Jesus returns after Israel calls for him in the near future.
I hope you didn’t read into my words that I thought they would be allowed, Arcticman. Because that is decidedly not what I meant or intended.
They will, however, see what relatively few of us will ever be able to. Surely something to consider and marvel at. And perhaps even awaken their faith.
Thank you for the link 👍🏻
Betsy, as an astronomer I can attest to absolutely stunning creations in the sky. It takes your breath away. To be able to see those things up close would be awe inspiring and cause more than a pause to take it all in.
God Speed Astronauts!!!
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Thank goodness for the great big beautiful bill funding.
Watching this launch and seeing the technology and sophistication employed make me think about what an incredible adventure the moon ventures truly were that we watched over half a century ago. I’d love the see one of the original launches side by side with this one.
NASA IT veteran of 40+ yrs. These flights are different than the others. Everything is much bigger. The ship is only the second one, fully experimental. We’ve spent 3+ years working with and training the crew. See them several times a week. They know the risks. They seek the journey and challenge.
It started for me about 8 yrs ago, when a young manager told a large team of ours in Training Systems that he was so excited we’re going back to the moon. I looked around, then spoke up. “Well, that’s technically and historically true. But nobody in this room has ever been to the moon.”
From that moment on, the opportunity and the excitement was in focus.
What we’re doing now is in many respects more challenging than the Apollo era. We manage a decades-old space station, visiting vehicles including commercial crews, cargo, lots of payloads and experiments, many international partners, all of it connected and working together, often world-wide. Our training simulation systems (where I work) are world class, and we add new missions and partners into the mix about once every two years. Literally a dozen programs and projects going all at once.
I love complex systems and problems. I’ve worked on other training simulators, fighter jets, cockpits… nothing compares in complexity to what we do right now. And I can say, as an engineer, I couldn’t be more pleased to work on these systems. Likely most complex in the world, certainly so if you add in the risk of human spaceflight.
Trust the NASA geeks and Flight Operations division. They are world class. If only we can dodge the bureaucracy!
I remember as a kid standing with neighbours in the twilight in our working class street looking up for Sputnik to pass overhead blinking. As we looked up we saw a possum negotiating the high wires going out for its dinner. The ancient animal vs the new science.
Great movie called October Sky and Homer Hickam………..
I met Homer when he came to JSC to meet NASA workers and sign his book, Rocket Boys. I have two copies, one dedicated to my mom who worked at JSC, the other to me. Homer was as kind and thoughtful as you’d expect the author of that book to be.
Minor trivia: The movie name “October Sky” is an anagram of Rocket Boys.
Wow Mimi! We both saw Sputnik, and I was only 2 years old! And I still remember that. It was nighttime, my dad took me out to the backyard of the place where we were living then. He picked me up with one of his arms then he pointed up at Sputnik and told me to look at it. I did!
Then he played a joke for me- he asked me if I had ever seen anything like that before 🤣! It was one of the most amazing moments of my life with my dad, and I will never forget it.
I saw a split-screen, simultaneous video of the shuttle and Artemis/Orion launches earlier this week. I’ll try to find it and post the link here.
Here it is.
Funny Jim worked there but has no inside baseball photos ect.
Didn’t know you had to dish inside scoop to be allowed to post. Where’s your inside scoop posts?
I didn’t post to impress you or convince anyone of anything. I shared a lived experience, but I guess that got banned for some here in the Christian place, right?
No worries. You don’t have to believe me any more than I have to listen to you.
Get a pretty good view in the sky from front of my yard. Used to watch the shuttle takeoffs. Can’t see the little satellite ones as good.
April Fools. Low earth orbit and nothing more.
Can’t they ever get a woman of normal height?
The average US woman is 5’4″.
If they are going to send a woman to the moon, can’t they at least make sure her name is Alice?
Very Good! To the Moon Alice
It was April’s Fool day folks….fake fake fake. Look how many people bought it. 😁
Yawn…
It was the Space Shuttle, Version Deux. Watching the “cutting edge” NASA technology was like watching an Apollo launch – damn near the same. The only thing that NASA burned through besides the fuel of the launch is the tax dollars that went to manufacturers using old technology and propping up congressional districts.
Blah, blah, blah.
No new roads hi taxes low pay. I’m with you
They should have the huge fuselage we see on tv, with exercise room, kitchen, dining area, and cockpit!
Like Project Hail Mary–lots of living space, more than a Manhattan apartment!
I work at NASA, IT team leader. My team builds and maintains all the computers and systems required for all human space flight training… flight controllers, flight directors, flight crews, international partners. I grew up in the shadow of NASA during Apollo, many of my friends’ parents working at Johnson Space Center. I’ve known Gene Kranz for all of my life. I’ve worked at JSC for more than 40 yrs. My mom worked there before me.
I remember the electric buzz that would start the week before launch, soft at first, then grow into frantic excitement. The most serious people I’ve ever known, military and professional dedication and work ethic, would just start vibrating with energy. Never understood it as a kid or post-college grad. Never happened to me, despite more than a hundred shuttle flights, full life-time of the space station. No idea why. But, nothing.
After the past three days, I now get it. The danger of a huge rocket that could malfunction and put lives in jeopardy, people we’ve worked closely with for 3+ yrs for this single 10-day mission, never disappears. But alongside the focus and seriousness, the excitement of doing something you never thought you’d get to do in your lifetime, the challenge to do the near-impossible… that energy cannot be suppressed, even among the most disciplined veterans.
We spend a lot of time in meetings. The higher level ones are quite serious, always professional. Today, those same people could not focus on the mundane, future tasks and projects. The launch was everywhere always. Quick comments referring to the countdown. Note of launch watching parties in multiple conference rooms for teams. Snips from the live feed of excited kids. A speech from Isaacman, who has quickly become a leader I think most will follow anywhere. References to parents and friends that witnessed Apollo launches from the same rooms in the same buildings we were in.
I wasn’t old enough to have the feel for history back then. But I still remember vividly the first three minutes when I found out Challenger had exploded. Same thing for Columbia’s disintegration. I knew crew family members or crew on both of those. It changes you, makes you a little darker inside.
But today changed me, too. For the first time ever, the inspiration, the hope, and the expectation of success was everywhere all at once. After all we’ve been through the past ten years, the spark is lighting again. And Trump and Isaacman and NASA are going to restore pride in America’s elite technical skills.
I can promise you this. When we put boots on the moon again, it’s going to be a world-stopping moment just like before. Our media doesn’t really cover it, but the world is hungry for a success like that, for inspiration. And this time, America is NOT doing it alone. I work with ESA (European) and JAXA (Japanese) and CSA (Canadian) partners. Everyone is hyped, far more than I’ve ever seen.
I didn’t think the “space thing” would ever get hold of me. Most of my family, including my mom, could never understand that. I was the most idealistic and patriotic of my siblings. Yet, I didn’t really care that I worked for NASA. Best I could tell, I just believed I was born 15 yrs too late and a decade too soon to be part of changing the world kind of missions. But… I do NOT think that now!
What’s changed? Mostly the pride in achieving the near-impossible, and being in a leader in reaching that. That’s a pretty good thing to be a part of. And I’m glad all the smart kids let me into the room. I know I deserve to be in the room, but 75% of these people are too smart to describe. I was never that. But I can corral and shape those brains to do fantastic things. So I they let me stay in the room. What a blessing to discover after 40 yrs of not knowing you wanted to do that.
A few years ago, I intended to retire by 2023. But the bug caught me, stayed a little longer. And now I’m all-in. I will stay until I am the second generation of my family to watch a person walk on the moon from inside the walls of NASA. And my mom will cry tears of joy from heaven. “My Jimmy finally did it!” And this time, I’ll bring my kids onsite to witness it as well.
We go to the moon. It will be huge and positive and make you proud. Count on it.
I’m shocked you stayed through the Obama disaster.
Isn’t it obvious that the main mission of NASA is RoP outreach?
re: b o and company disaster…
speaking not only of space transportation,
there is also ground transportation – that was a b o (and company) disaster, 2009, via the supposed
‘shovel ready projects’
during the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).
Some road projects were advanced ahead of schedule and were done in the short term, which raised the prices of construction, and they (designers, contractors) could not build up capacity, since it was only short term.
i.e. by accelerating some projects -with other prior schedule projects already underway – there was no time to hire more people, ( D C did not care )
so the same resources (equipment and people) did more work, at higher prices (over time for some, not all)
and or more work hours (but salary people did not get more pay). ( D C did not care )
It was Not a long term job creator. ( D C did not care )
It was an over load of the current design, equipment, materials and personnel ( a lot of duress
( D C did not care ),
and more expensive roadway construction, for a year (D.C. did not care)…
…and since there was an over load, in many cases the projects took another construction year, on top other prior projects that were already planned (D C did not care) ).
It, ARRA, was such a good b o (and others) idea, wasteful / over use of resource$,
that it has not happened again, for over 15 years….
Maybe, with 20/20 hindsight (too late),
D C got a clue?
I do not know
Today, D C, Senate over ponders, pontificates, the SAVE America Act…. election integrity…
something that actually would work long term…. and something that is way, way past due and needed.
The House passed SAVE America, over 10 months ago…
…the Senate… ?
Go figure…
hmmmm…
Love thy neighbors…
Holy week…
IT sure computer we get ya.
Astronaut Don Petit~~
“I’d go back to the moon in a minute, but we destroyed that technology and it’s a painful process to build it back.”
Glad you’ve got a nice job at NASA but it’s a bigger scam than the 🥕🥕🥕.
Like all things government they’re never giving up their $80 million a week of taxpayer money.
The only two things all countries agreed on?
The Antarctic Treaty and the jab.
What’s your factual basis for that?
What a great experience you’ve had and this grandmother who watched all of the Apollo launches and most of the early shuttle launches thanks you. We need more people like you. I was also honored to have a career with highly intelligent electrical and mechanical engineers. When you are fortunate enough to work with genius, it’s hard to retire. Best wishes and good luck.
Saw Chris Kraft, the impresario of Apollo, speak at MIT at the 40th anniversary in 2009. He said,
“I don’t intend to be the rude dinner guest, but I’ve heard here today that we should do what we did with Apollo but with the environment, hunger, inequality etc. But I’m here to tell you that I doubt your ability to succeed in these difficult though laudable endeavors because people today aren’t as dedicated to mission success as they were with Apollo.”
Funny how MIT didn’t make that speech widely available.
That group of men in that time were different. Many of them worked 12 hour days every day except Sunday for a decade, and on Sunday when mission milestones approached.
I’m proud of what we’ve done, but they did it in the face of extreme risk, extreme schedules, and extreme dedication that was more military than civilian in its demands.
Hats off to those that blazed the trail for us.
Chris Kraft was right. There’s a reason the current MCC is named after him.
Thank you Jim! It’s always good for me to hear a positive story from another person who works for an agency of the US.Gov.
My heart was beating like a big bass drum watching the take off etc. on the NASA+ youtube channel. My sisters in FL sent me pictures of what they were able to see from there.
I’ve read a lot of doom and gloom as to what is going on the Dark Side of the Moon. It is as the Nun’s used to say “A Mystery.”
Looked for that Pink Floyd song the “Dark Side of the Moon.” I think that song is 40 minutes long. Tomorrow’s another day for listening to that one.
Thank you again for sharing your story.
I’d say you used AI to write this, except this throws me off: “What a blessing to discover after 40 yrs of not knowing you wanted to do that.” So…maybe..?
I’m no AI but I play one on TV.
No, wait. That was Dr. Welby MD actor, right? Lying about cigarettes.
I don’t think anyone or any AI could pull out that reply.
How did NASA plan to protect astronauts from the radiation of the Van Hallen belt?
That’s actually my question as well. Forgot all about that. The vehicle isn’t designed, built or managed at JSC.
I’ll need to read up on it.
Interesting to me trivia point. My college senior engineering project was to design and deploy an autonomous experiment to test a new radiation hardening technique for electronics. The device was a voltage controlled oscillator that was powered off until the experiment detected a radiation event (belts), turned on, recorded data in bubble memory, then powered off.
Sadly, it never flew (shuttle was the target vehicle in 1986 or ’87).
Any guesses why it didn’t fly?
Challenger disaster.
And, yes that was real.
Interesting times.
Thank you! I posted above to Jim about thinking about that song before seeing your post.
Rats. I think I’m looking for another version of the song where Pink Floyd actually sings “I’ll see you on the Dark Side of the Moon.” Think its in a 40 minute entire side of vinyl.
Split screen video comparing Space Shuttle STS and Artemis/Orion SLS launches. Hint: SLS is much, MUCH larger.
We put men on the moon over 50 years ago with crude computers etc and now all we can do is circle the moon.??
Just this time. We’re going to land after a couple of missions. Be patient.
Obama put men in the ladies’ room, so there’s that.
Hey, old man ! SHUSH ! , What you’re saying proves we never went. They might come after you !
Think Apollo 8….
…and while ‘circling’ close up,
what else might the mission accomplish?
-moon surface, 3d imagery?
-best real estate for a moon base? (not too sunny, not too dark…not too hot, not too cold…not too steep…not too rocky… for solar panel energy etc…)
…location, location, location…
hmmm…
So you think Ferrari races their new design cars in F1 races with pilots with thousands of hours ONLY in a simulator the second time they fire it up and drive?
What about Boeing or Airbus on second flight of a new airliner?
That’s the best analogy I can think of, and it’s not really fair to NASA.
The Van Allen belt is impassable. Next question?
The Firmament. In 1962 they launched nuclear missiles into it, Operation Fishbowl. Look it up. Elon has been bouncing rockets off of it. Man cannot leave Earth, there is no place to go.
Just asking, how high is this ‘firmament’? The Operation Fishbowl tests were conducted (detonated) at altitudes between 13 miles and 400 miles and Artemis II (Integrity) is now currently at an altitude of +40,000 miles.
I haven’t seen it hit anything yet.
What about the Van Halen Belt?
The one and only James Van Allen disagrees with you. In February 2003, a member of the Cosmoquest forum reported that he had written to Van Allen asking for information on the effects that belt radiation might have had on astronauts and that he had received the following answer:
“Dear Mr. Lambert,
In reply to your e-mail, I send you the following copy of a response that I wrote to another inquiry about 2 months ago —
– The radiation belts of the Earth do, indeed, pose important constraints on the safety of human space flight.
– The very energetic (tens to hundreds of MeV) protons in the inner radiation belt are the most dangerous and most difficult to shield against. Specifically, prolonged flights (i.e., ones of many months’ duration) of humans or other animals in orbits about the Earth must be conducted at altitudes less than about 250 miles in order to avoid significant radiation exposure.
– A person in the cabin of a space shuttle in a circular equatorial orbit in the most intense region of the inner radiation belt, at an altitude of about 1000 miles, would be subjected to a fatal dosage of radiation in about one week.
– However, the outbound and inbound trajectories of the Apollo spacecraft cut through the outer portions of the inner belt and because of their high speed spent only about 15 minutes in traversing the region and less than 2 hours in traversing the much less penetrating radiation in the outer radiation belt. The resulting radiation exposure for the round trip was less than 1% of a fatal dosage – a very minor risk among the far greater other risks of such flights. I made such estimates in the early 1960s and so informed NASA engineers who were planning the Apollo flights. These estimates are still reliable.
– The recent Fox TV show, which I saw, is an ingenious and entertaining assemblage of nonsense. The claim that radiation exposure during the Apollo missions would have been fatal to the astronauts is only one example of such nonsense.
James A. Van Allen“
Can of worms here.
We never went.
Lets Go.
Anyone who can prove how the Austronauts live thru the Van Allen Belt please advise or show your ignorance.
NASA is the greatest scam ever 80 Million daily.
What better way to turn people against religion than trying to disprove the first chapter of the first book of the Bible?
The Western ruling class has been pushing to replace the worship of God with the worship of science and technology for well over 100 years.
The only thing most people know about what the ancients believed about the Earth the Sun the moon and the stars is that the flat earth theory is so dumb, it’s literally a metaphor for believing dumb things. They know absolutely nothing else about it….. because why should they?
And that’s all by design. Who would want to be curious about something that they would be mocked mercilessly for wanting to know more about?
Yet they teach kids all about the Ancient Greeks, even though literally no present day society believes in Greek mythology. The secularists put the Greeks on a pedestal for a reason. Because they believed the Earth was round and they weren’t Christians. So they are given much more respect in the world of modern academia than Christian theologians.
Who knew Canada had a space program? Where have they gone with it (besides one crewman on the US launch)?
The Artemis launch today brought back so many memories of the Apollo days when I was a teenager and then a young married woman. We huddled around the TV and held our breath. I did the same today with my daughter. They sounds and sights were so familiar. It was wonderful to experience it again after over 50 years.
We are so back! Camelot, eat your heart out!
“Former astronaut Jerry Linenger is giving HUGE praise to President Trump”….
The media constantly harranged about being historic…the first person of color and the first woman. Woke female reporter on the weather channel asked a guy on the beach if he was excited about this history in the making. He replied that it’s exciting because it hasn’t been done in 50 yrs!
Got to enjoy the crazies when they complain that the ‘term going to the moon’ is false because they are circling the moon. Next they will complain about the processes.
1/ SF books & videos predict; UFOs/UAPs demonstrate — propellantless propulsion.
2/ Rocketry is not suitable for “colonizing” the system.
3/ Births should only be allowed on earth; only older people should leave earth’s gravity permanently or for long periods.
Determined in His will, give Victor Glover and others in your great price, favor of insight to bless NASA’s “might”!
I am elated!
Blessings to them all and prayers for a safe trip.
I used to work in the Alaska Bush there are no amenities generally a ⛺️ one can find a creek for clean up but generally a tuff expierience. When you return your exhausted.
These astronauts will return all refreshed and smiles or maybe they will be in 3 day training what to say.
I don’t remember the date of the one where they looked as though they were headed out for a party after being coupled up for 3 days in a tiny chamber.
Simply watch.
Space stations, and long time couped up together, has been happening for over a decade.
Some things might have been learned.
( some humans are more capable for certain duties, chores, environments, than others. )
Some humans can enjoy ‘camping out’ without amenities, creature comforts, for weeks etc.
Others do not even try and stay with their creature comforts.
We are made in the Lords likeness. We are not clones of the Lord.
Each person, may, or may not, have gifts (from God) that another person that may, or may not have.
imho
I hope they jettison the canuck and leave him somewhere in orbit, preferably on the dark side of the Moon.
that was the worst video I’ve seen in a long while, why’s their video so bad
Strange that we can’t find enough money/taxes to keep our citizens safe from invaders but we can find enough to send a few people on a joy ride to the moon.