If watching the coverage of the war in the Middle East is making you lose hope in the ability of our race to move forward, you need to read this BBC article (complete with its breathtaking graphics & animation) on the most daring space flight ever undertaken (which will in all likelihood be underway by the time you read these words).
The BBC team writes: “For the first time in more than 50 years, humanity is returning to the Moon – travelling further from Earth than anyone has ever been before.
Four astronauts will take a trip of more than half a million miles around our celestial neighbour and back home in a mission filled with wonderment, but also danger.
Nasa’s Artemis II mission…will bring us stunning views of the Moon and a new understanding of the lunar environment.
It will also pave the way for a landing and, eventually, a Moon base – our first step in learning how to live on another world.
But the voyage comes with serious risks – the crew will fly in a spacecraft never used by humans before.”
This mission is unique and dangerous for several reasons beginning with the rocket (whose enormous size you can see in a remarkably animated sequence in the article): “The astronauts will start their journey on Nasa’s mega Moon rocket, the Space Launch System.
It is the most powerful rocket the US space agency has ever built and will blast off from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida….
Once they are on their way, coming home will not be easy or quick – the astronauts are now committed to their long journey around the Moon and back.
During this time, the crew will continue to evaluate the spacecraft systems, but the astronauts themselves will also be evaluated and monitored.
It is an opportunity to use the crew as guinea pigs – experiments on board will reveal how their bodies are affected this far out in space.
Radiation is a key concern, as the Sun can hurl out damaging, high-energy particles.
The astronauts will carry a device called a dosimeter to see how much radiation they are exposed to. They will also practise using their radiation shelter, which is under the floor of the spacecraft.
The crew need to know how to get into it quickly if a solar storm is detected.
Another practice session to help prepare for the unexpected will involve the astronauts climbing into their bright orange spacesuits, called the Orion Crew Survival System (OCSS).
These suits are worn to protect the crew during launch and re-entry, and also act as vital protection if there is a problem with the capsule.
The suit is like a mini-wearable spacecraft, pressurised with inbuilt life-support systems…
The astronauts will fly around its far side – the side we cannot see from Earth – at a distance of between 6,500 and 9,500km (4,000-6,000 miles) from the lunar surface….
But while the astronauts get to stare in awe and wonder during their lunar fly-by, it will be a tense time for mission control as well as everyone following the mission at home.
As the astronauts fly behind the Moon, they will lose communication with the Earth for between 30 and 50 minutes.”
Assume that our daring astronauts get through all of that, the Artemis team will then have to have one of the riskiest return journeys back to Earth: “For this final manoeuvre, the crew module will separate from the rest of the spacecraft, and the capsule will turn so its heat shield can bear the brunt of the fiery temperatures generated on re-entry and keep the astronauts safe inside.
The spacecraft will hurtle through Earth’s atmosphere at 25,000mph, enduring temperatures of about 2,700C – that is half as hot as the surface of the Sun.
There has been a great deal of focus on the heat shield – it was badly damaged during the first uncrewed Artemis mission. But by adjusting the angle of the re-entry, the engineers are confident they have fixed the problem.
Once the spacecraft is safely through, a series of parachutes will be deployed to slow it down.
The astronauts will make a gentle splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California, where a recovery team will be waiting.
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