The Artemis 2 astronauts are already on their way to the Moon. At 7:57 pm ET, the Orion spacecraft completed a translunar injection, making it the first crewed spacecraft to leave low Earth orbit since the Apollo era.
Orion autonomously fired its main engine for just under six minutes to produce a velocity change of nearly 1,300 feet per second, placing itself on a lunar trajectory. Flight controllers and NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman monitored engine performance, guidance and navigation data during the burn to ensure it went smoothly, and it did. No major problems arose during the course of the burn.
This is the first time Orion has conducted its own TLI burn. During Artemis 1, the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket’s upper stage, also known as the interim cryogenic propulsion stage, remained attached to the spacecraft and propelled it onto a lunar trajectory. Demonstrating that Orion can do this on its own is a key milestone that will help pave the way for a future moon landing.
Once this critical maneuver is complete, Orion will execute a smaller burn to perfect its trajectory and now heads for the long-awaited encounter with the Moon, which will occur on Monday.
“With that successful TLI, the crew is feeling pretty good here on our way to the Moon,” Jeremy Hansen said over the communications system. “We just wanted to communicate to everyone around the planet who has worked to make Artemis possible that we strongly felt the power of their perseverance during every second of that burn.”
“Humanity has shown once again what we are capable of and it is their hopes for the future that now take us on this journey around the Moon,” Hansen added.
Around the Moon and vice versa
The SLS and Orion rocket launched from Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 6:35 p.m. ET on Wednesday, carrying Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency into low-Earth orbit.
The last day has been extraordinary. Aside from a couple of minor technical issues during the pre-launch period, a brief partial loss of contact between ground control and Orion, and a spaceship bathroom problemeverything went as planned. NASA quickly resolved each of those anomalies.
Now that Orion is on its way to the Moon, the spacecraft should enter the lunar sphere of influence on the fifth day of flight, which would be Sunday. At that point, the Moon’s gravity will be stronger than Earth’s, throwing the spacecraft in the opposite direction. During this gravity-assisted flyby, the Artemis 2 astronauts will have a full day (Monday) to observe the lunar surface.
The beauty of the translunar injection is that when Orion emerges from behind the Moon on Tuesday, it will already be on the free return trajectory that will bring it back to Earth. Aside from three small correction burns spread over Tuesday and Friday, our planet’s gravity will naturally pull Orion home. But to be clear, the dates of these events assume that the mission will proceed as planned.
Gizmodo will track the flight until landing, and you can follow it through our live blog. Now that humanity is officially on its way back to the Moon, you’ll experience history in the making.
