SPACE/COSMOS
Meet the Artemis II astronauts preparing for humanity's return to the Moon
Four astronauts from the United States and Canada are about to take off on the Artemis II mission that will circle the Moon.
The Artemis II mission is set to take off as early as April 1, according to the US' National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
It will send four astronauts on an approximately 10-day journey around the Moon to test the Orion spacecraft, which will land on the Moon in future missions.
The astronauts who will take part will not land on the Moon this time, but their mission will take them thousands of kilometres deeper into space than the Apollo astronauts went for the original Moon landings of the 1960s and 1970s.
"We are getting very, very close [to launch], and we are ready," said Lori Glaze, acting associate administrator for NASA's Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, in a press conference over the weekend. "All of our operations have been going smoothly, it's been going very well."
Four astronauts from the United States and Canada make up the team for the Artemis mission. Ahead of the launch, they are reviewing emergency procedures and spending time with their families at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.
They are also staying in quarantine to make sure they stay healthy before liftoff, which could be any day between April 1 and 6.
This is who will go on the Artemis II mission.
Commander Reid Wiseman
Reid Wiseman, a retired Navy captain, was serving as NASA's chief astronaut three years ago when he was asked to lead the crew.
Wiseman had previously spent more than five months at the International Space Station in 2014 as part of the 40th launch. But his teenage daughters had "zero interest" in seeing him launch again.
“We talked about it and I said, ‘Look, of all the people on planet Earth right now, there are four people that are in a position to go fly around the Moon,” he said. “I cannot say no to that opportunity.”
The toughest part is not leaving his family, but “it's the stress that I’m putting on them,” he said. Wiseman has been a single father since 2020, when his wife Carroll passed away from cancer.
Wiseman was selected to join NASA as one of nine candidates in 2009 to start astronaut training after his military career. At the time, he was a lieutenant commander in the US Navy.
He has often said he wanted to be an astronaut after going to a Space Shuttle launch in person as a child.
Pilot Victor Glover
Before any launch, Victor Glover makes it a point to listen to two songs: Gil Scott-Heron’s “Whitey on the Moon” and Marvin Gaye’s “Make Me Wanna Holler” from the white-dominated Apollo era.
To Glover, they are songs from the white-dominated Apollo era of US space flight that "capture what we did well, what we did poorly."
Glover, one of NASA's few Black astronauts, said that he sees his place on the mission as a "force for good," and a chance to inspire others to get into space.
In 2018, Glover was assigned to fly on the first operational flight of SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule to the International Space Station, where he stayed at the station for more than six months. He was the first African-American crew member to stay on the ISS, local media reported at the time.
In Glover's previous career as a fighter pilot for the US Army, he logged over 3,000 flight hours in 40 different types of aircraft and flew in 24 combat missions.
Before this launch, he said he's spent more time preparing his four daughters for his launch than he has preparing himself.
Mission specialist Christina Koch
Christina Koch, a 47-year-old electrical engineer from North Carolina, holds the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman at 328 days.
That mission, which saw her blast off to the International Space Station on March 14, 2019, was also when Koch was part of the all-female spacewalk. She and Jessica Meir left the ISS to do a lengthy series of upgrades to the station's power systems and physics observatories.
Koch's 328-day mission is used to study the physical, biological and mental effects of long-term space travel on women, according to Reuters.
More than any one individual, the Artemis II mission is “about celebrating the fact that we’ve arrived to this place in history” where women can fly to the Moon, she said.
Koch spent a year at a South Pole research station before getting the call from NASA. Between that and her space stint, she feels she's “inoculated” most of her family and friends.
“So far, I haven't gotten too many nerves from folks. Maybe my dog, but I've reassured her that it's only 10 days. It's not going to be as long as last time.”
Canadian fighter pilot Jeremy Hansen
Jeremy Hansen, a Canadian fighter pilot and physicist, is making his space debut.
He will also be the first Canadian to ever go to the Moon.
“Maybe I'm naive, but I don't feel a lot of personal pressure," Hanson told the Associated Press.
Hansen, 50, grew up on a farm in rural Canada before joining the Royal Canadian Air Force as a captain. He piloted aircraft such as the CF-18 from his base in Alberta. He had been promoted to the rank of colonel before getting the call from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) in 2009.
Hansen has also undertaken NASA missions underwater, serving as an "aquanaut," to the Aquarius underwater laboratory in 2014. He lived in an underwater environment for seven days to simulate what conditions would be like in space and to test NASA's remote guidance systems.
He realises only now how much effort it took to send men to the Moon during Apollo.
“When I walk out, and I look at the moon now, it looks and feels a little bit farther than it used to be,” he said. “I just understand in the details how much harder it is than I thought it was, watching videos of it.”
Space Norway Launches Mimir 1, Giving Commercial Access to In-Orbit Testing
[By: Space Norway]
Rocket science for everyone? Almost. Space Norway is opening access to in-orbit testing with its new satellite, Mimir 1, launching on Sunday 29 March from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. More than a satellite, Mimir-1 is a laboratory in space, designed to test new concepts in Earth observation, communications, and navigation and accelerate innovation through flexible, cost-effective access to orbit.
Mimir 1 is Space Norway’s first in-house developed satellite, designed, owned, and operated by the company. It was built and integrated by OHB Sweden, with both payloads developed in Norway.
“Mimir 1 represents a significant milestone for Space Norway. We are excited to see how the platform will enable new capabilities and deliver value not only for us, but for partners across the space sector,” said Marte Kalveland, Director of Earth Observation and Innovation at Space Norway.
Space Norway plans to make capacity available on Mimir 1 to other space industry stakeholders as well as academia. The satellite has therefore been designed for flexibility and ease of use, enabling more companies to test promising ideas in space. The design, construction and launch of satellites is time consuming, costly and requires specialised expertise. By booking capacity on board Mimir 1, companies with strong ideas for space-based services gain the opportunity to test their concepts before investing in their own satellite development and production.
The primary payload on board is a Software Defined Radio (SDR) with several different antennas covering a wide frequency range. What makes Mimir 1 unique is that it carries an onboard computer that can be programmed from the ground while the satellite is in orbit.
For traditional satellites, mission tasks are defined prior to launch and cannot be changed once in orbit. Mimir 1 takes a different approach, serving as a development platform rather than a conventional operational satellite. Flexibility and rapid development are central to the project, enabling Space Norway to support the development of new services and more advanced, better-defined payloads in the future.
The first experiment focuses on satellite-based Internet of Things (IoT) services. Space Norway will test IoT services in new frequency bands on behalf of the European Space Agency (ESA). The Mimir project is developing a user interface for planning different types of experiments involving both the satellite and ground terminals.
The secondary payload on board is a VDES (VHF Data Exchange System) communications system, developed for data exchange between vessels and satellites or coastal stations. The difference between AIS (Automatic Identification System) and VDES is that VDES enables two-way communication, whereas AIS is limited to one-way transmission. The Mimir payload is expected to make a significant contribution to ESA’s multinational VDES cooperation project.
Mimir 1 will operate in low Earth orbit and will be separated from the launch vehicle at an altitude of approximately 600 km. The satellite weighs 93 kg, has a wingspan of 2.3 metres and a planned operational lifetime of seven years.
At the same launch, the AISSat?4 satellite will also be sent into orbit on the same rocket from Vandenberg. This satellite will be operated by StatSat, a subsidiary of Space Norway. AISSat4 is owned by the Norwegian Coastal Administration (Kystverket), and StatSat currently
Follow the launch of both satellites at 12:20 CET:
www.launch.spacenorway.com
The above link will be active closer to launch.
AISSat?4:
- Time from launch to separation: 55 minutes, separation at approximately 13:22
- Time from separation to first ping (signal from the satellite): 1 hour
Mimir?1:
- Time from launch to separation: 2 hours 18 minutes, separation at approximately 14:48
- Time from separation to first possible ping: 1 hour 16 minutes, at approximately 16:04
As always, satellite launches may be delayed in time and the timings may change.
The products and services herein described in this press release are not endorsed by The Maritime Executive.
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