NASA’s Artemis II mission is headed to the moon!

Not very excited at all SLS and Artemis are a badly conceived program aimed at satisfying pork barrel politics whilst being astronomically epensive and not even matching Apollo. After tthe low Earth Artemis 3 mission I expect it to be cancelled.

I’m a Ghanaian and I’m very proud to see the Ghana flag 🇬🇭 being displayed by Christina Koch in the mission.

I learnt the spacecraft is coming down with a very powerful gravitational speed that the earth surface cannot contain so it has to be directed into the Pacific Ocean. What will happen if it falls on the continent? And what are the future plans to reduce the speed limit so that it lands safely on the ground surface like how aeroplanes do?

Congratulations to the team Artemis II mission. We pray for a successful return.

In knowing that the South pole is the site for exploration, what is going to be the light source for long periods of time???

Upon arrival to Earth, how and when will we be able to see Integrety in the sky, from eastern Kern County?

Waiting for the return

I would love to see automated bots making bases and new kind of building methods using the moon dust with other metals blended with.

It's about time over fifty urs no visitors to moon politics money tech we need a moonbase there pronto

Sure! Humans have not been the moon for more than fifty years, this mission means humans have the ability to go to moon again.

Is it possible that sperm do not have the ability to accurately navigate to eggs in microgravity?

I love to watch space travel

A sci-fi addict back in the sixties and seventies, I'm not surprised but just darned proud and relieved by our ongoing commitment to explore the universe. I'm relieved because politics has a way destroying the best in ourselves, and imagination is so endemic to human beings, to stifle our capacities to seek and understand, is to weaken us too many ways to list here. Bless you all and keep going! I was one of several hundred persons to get a Pan Am reservation for a trip to the moon. I'd go in a heartbeat if I could. Or to Mars, or just gad about the solar system with a good friend and my cat. Take care, It's wonderful to know that women participate as astronauts and that all can keep in touch with their families. Miracles are normal for you all.

Stephanie, regarding the sides of the moon: there are two different distinctions at play, near/far side and light/dark side. The near/far side are static terms--because of how the moon is tidally locked with Earth, the same side always faces us. But of course while flying around the moon the crew will fly over both near and far side. Then, as you nod to, there's the light/dark dichotomy, separated by what scientists call the terminator line where day and night meet. The terminator travels around the moon about every two Earth weeks. Right now, the far side is about 20 percent illuminated. This is all in contrast to the Apollo missions, which needed to land on the near side mid-lunar-day, and so flew over the far side only when it was dark. Hope that helps!

Why is this first time human eyes are seeing the dark side of the moon? Doesn't it rotate on its access? Shouldn't we be able to view it from Earth?

Will any from of robotic devices will be present the next time human set foot on the moon to help them in any ways?

I was wandering if magnetic propulsion would decrease the mass of the vessel and increase dramatically the feasible lunar insertion speed, demanding less energy? As consequence, it would be able to decelerate the midway trajectory, to still use the gravitational well of the body, avoiding overpass. Would it decrease the "travel" time between bodies, when decelerating for the slingshot maneuver / orbital insertion?

Also wandering if this decelerating maneuver, would quit relying on air particles of Earth during reentry stage, promoting the "cold reentry" phenomena?

Never mind. I understand the long shutter speed. But I can also see artificial lights on the Iberian peninsula. (The North Pole is downward in this picture)

If the Earth is eclipsing the Sun then this picture is of the night side of the Earth. Why is it so well lit? And why don't we see any of the artificial lights of civilization?

Your 22,670 mph is wrong by a factor of ten

How did the translunar injection burn accelerate the Orion capsule from 4,260 mph, to 22,67mph at an altitude of 155 mi, where the actual atmospheric pressure is extremely low, approximately 1.31 x10-7 pascals (Pa)?

I'm wondering how dark it is inside Orion when all lights are turned off, assuming that happens when the astronauts sleep. Do LED lights make it hard to sleep? Is Orion getting any sunlight? Is starlight about the same brightness as on Earth? Are the astronauts able to sleep soundly? I'm curious because I like the room to be dark as a cave when sleeping--no LED lights, no clock, nothing.

my question is when do we return to landing on the moon?

This whole thing is worth the expense, in that very few things motivate us toward our own progress. No one has figured out a 'best way' to raise our young to do it. This has got to be one of the best, so far.

Victor, regarding the image of Earth seen here backlit by the sun: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/where-is-artemis-ii-now-nasa-mission-is-committed-to-the-moon/. Per a NASA statement here https://x.com/NASA/status/2040114143626244576, the image was achieved by using a long shutter speed that captured more light from Earth--the link includes a really cool comparison with another image taken at the same time with a much shorter shutter speed, which is much more what you'd expect!

Excited indeed. However, speed of the Orion is >24,000 miles per hour, not ~4000 miles per hour, as stated in the article.

What hurdles do we face as a species if we plan for interplanetary travel and extraterrestrial colonies?