**NASA's Artemis 1 Mission: A Step Forward in Lunar Exploration**

It was a busy takeoff for NASA's Artemis 1 mission, which marked a significant milestone in the agency's plans to return humans to the Moon by 2025. The Orion spacecraft, named after the Greek mythological figure who led the first humans to explore space, was launched atop a powerful Space Launch System (SLS) rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. As the rocket soared into the sky, NASA engineers and scientists held their breaths, knowing that this mission would test many of the technologies and systems needed for future lunar missions.

The Orion spacecraft's propulsion stage or ICS (Interplanetary Cruise Stage), a key component of the mission, reached speeds of over 22,000 miles per hour, escaping Earth's orbit and setting its precise path to the Moon. Once the propulsion stage is jettisoned, the ICPS (Orion Crew Propulsion System) drops off cubesats into space, while the Orion vehicle makes the rest of the journey alone. This phase is similar to a long-haul flight, with the spacecraft traveling through the vast expanse of space for several days.

During this time, NASA engineers and scientists are constantly monitoring the mission's systems, making sure everything is functioning as it should. The crew capsule also features GoPro cameras installed on the solar array wings and several cameras inside the crew compartment, which will help keep an eye on everything that's happening with the spacecraft. These cameras will not only ensure the safe passage of the Orion vehicle but also beam images back to Earth, giving scientists a glimpse into the action and hopefully capturing the first view of the Moon when Orion arrives.

The Orion spacecraft will eventually perform a powered flyby of the Moon, just 60 miles above its surface, before using the Moon's gravity to enter what's known as a distant retrograde orbit around the Moon. This orbit means that the spacecraft will orbit the Moon in the opposite direction that the Moon orbits around Earth, with the distance between them being about 40,000 miles at its furthest point. This is the furthest a human-rated spacecraft has ever flown from Earth, and it's an advantage of this uncrewed mission.

**Testing Technologies and Collecting Data**

One of the key benefits of sending an uncrewed mission to the Moon is that NASA doesn't have to worry about keeping astronauts alive or getting them home by a certain time. This means that Orion can spend longer in deep space, putting its systems to the test and collecting important data about spaceflight. To achieve this, NASA has sent some "passengers" on board Artemis 1, including a suited-up mannequin called Commander Moonachin Campos, which will have sensors on its spacesuit and in its crew seat to measure its acceleration and vibrations during flight.

Additionally, two mannequin torsos, named Helga and Zohar, are also on board, with thousands of sensors fitted to mimic human flesh and bones. These torsos will be tasked with measuring radiation exposure during the mission and testing the materials used in future crew capsules. There's also an Alexa capability on board, allowing you to ask your smart speaker where Artemis is today.

**The Return Journey**

After completing its lunar flyby and entering into a distant retrograde orbit around the Moon, Orion will begin its journey back to Earth. The spacecraft will travel through space for several weeks, with the exact time depending on complex orbital mechanics. When it's time to return to Earth, Orion will perform a second close flyby of the Moon to get a gravity assist slingshotting itself back towards our planet.

Once Orion enters Earth's atmosphere at speeds of over 25,000 miles per hour, its heat shield will protect it from temperatures of up to 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The spacecraft will then deploy a series of parachutes to slow its descent to 20 miles per hour before splashing down within eyesight of the recovery ship off the coast of San Diego and California.

**A New Era in Space Exploration**

The Artemis 1 mission marks an exciting new era in space exploration, one that promises to push the boundaries of what we thought was possible. With this mission, NASA is taking a significant step towards returning humans to the Moon by 2025, with the ultimate goal of establishing a sustainable presence on the lunar surface. The success of Artemis 1 will pave the way for future missions, including those that will take humans to Mars and beyond.

As we watch Artemis 1 make its way through space, we're also witnessing a new era of collaboration between governments, industries, and individuals. With private companies like SpaceX leading the charge, there's never been a more exciting time to be involved in space exploration. Whether you're watching live from your living room or following along online, this mission has something for everyone.

**Get Involved!**

Whether you've watched an Apollo launch or seen some recent SpaceX launches, this Artemis 1 mission is an event worth witnessing. With its advanced technology and innovative approach to spaceflight, it's the perfect example of what humans can achieve when we work together towards a common goal. So, stay tuned for updates on the mission's progress and get involved in the conversation about space exploration – who knows? You might be part of something historic!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enNessa is going back to the moon for the first time in 50 years after years of development and some nail-biting delays the space agency just launched Artemis 1 on its 1.3 million mile Mission around the moon the space launch system NASA's most powerful rocket ever blasted off from Cape Canaveral in Florida ready to take the Orion spacecraft Beyond The Far Side of the Moon it's the furthest we've ever sent a human rated vehicle into space and while there were no humans on board this launch it's Paving the way for a moon landing within just a few years the first time since the Apollo ERA this is a truly historic moment and there are a lot of exciting bursts so let's break it down the mission timeline the special payloads on board and how we'll see the first up close pictures of the moon the Artemis program has been in development for more than a decade and there were delays with this first launch right down to the wire but after comprehensive safety checks the artemis-1 rocket finally lifted off from Launchpad 39b at the Kennedy Space Center the same launch complex that saw the Saturn V launches during the Apollo era within seconds the rocket had cleared its launch Tower and within minutes the spacecraft was on its way to the Moon with the Artemis program NASA is actually sending humans back to the moon for the first time since the Apollo Mission landed in 1972. it'll land the first woman and the first person of color on the lunar surface as soon as 2025 and it's a long-term program NASA wants to get to the Moon with Artemis then build an outpost there for longer duration missions into deep space and on to places like Mars the backbone of Artemis is the orange space launch system rocket that's the huge heavy lift booster with the Orion crew vehicle that sits on top the Artemis one launch in Florida that's the first of three launchers in the initial stages of the program this first uncrewed mission Artemis 1 is testing the capabilities of the SLS Orion and all the Flight Support Systems Artemis 2 the first crude Mission will fly by The Far Side of the Moon without Landing no earlier than 2024 then Artemis 3 will send humans to touchdown on the moon's South Pole potentially as early as 2025. I've actually done a full rundown on the whole Artemis program going behind the scenes at NASA's meshoot assembly facility in New Orleans and the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to see how this historic spacecraft was built it was really cool to see so make sure you check out my other video on that foreign isn't actually landing on the moon it's still an incredibly complex Mission with a lot of Maneuvers that need to happen in perfect sequence here's how the launch went down Artemis 1 blasted off with the help of two solid rocket boosters and four rs-25 engines producing more than 8 million pounds of thrust rocket launchers are often called a controlled explosion and it's easy to see why those solid rocket boosters are responsible for almost 80 percent of the thrust but they were spent in the first two minutes so goodbye rocket boosters by the eight minute Mark Artemis had also burned through all its liquid repellent so the main engines cut off and the orange core stage separated leaving the Orion crew vehicle to orbit the earth alone next up comes the trans lunar injection burn about an hour and a half after launch that's when Orion uses the engine on the interim cryogenic propulsion stage or icps yes NASA loves acronyms to get a boost out into deep space it hit speeds of more than 22 000 miles an hour escaping Earth's orbit and setting its precise path to the Moon with that job done Orion no longer needs its propulsion stage so they separate the icps drops off cubesats into space and the Orion vehicle makes the rest of the Journey To The Moon alone at this stage it's kind of like a long-haul flight Artemis 1 had a very busy takeoff but now it's time to dim the lights and hit the cruising stage it takes Orion several days to reach the moon but during that time NASA is constantly checking systems and making sure everything's okay we'll also see images from the flight thanks to GoPro cameras installed on the solar array wings and several cameras inside the crew Capsule NASA says those cameras will help keep an eye on everything that's happening with the spacecraft but they'll also beam images back to Earth to give us a glimpse of the action and hopefully our first view of the moon when Orion arrives at the Moon it'll get up close and personal doing a powered flyby just 60 miles above the lunar surface then it'll use the moon's gravity to enter what's known as a distant retrograde orbit around the Moon retrograde means it'll orbit around the moon in the opposite direction that the moon orbits around Earth and distant essentially just means it's at a high altitude above the Moon it'll fly about 40 000 miles out past the moon at its furthest point Nassau says that's the furthest a human rated spacecraft has ever flown from Earth there are actually advantages to this being an uncrewed mission NASA doesn't have to worry about keeping astronauts alive or getting them home by a certain time that combined with the fact that the distant retrograde orbit only uses a little fuel means that Orion can spend longer in deep space putting its systems to the test and collecting important data about space flight but while there are no humans on board Artemis 1 NASA did send some passengers up on this Mission the first is a suited up mannequin called Commander moonachin Campos what a pun it will have sensors on its spacesuit and in its crew seat to measure its acceleration and the vibrations experienced during flight there will also be two mannequin torsos called Helga and Zohar which have been fitted with thousands of sensors and made with materials to mimic human Flesh and Bones like Commander Moon again those torsos will be tasked with measuring radiation experience during flight and because this is the year 2022 there will also be Alexa capability on board so you'll be able to ask your smart speaker where Artemis is today and the final Tech demo built into Orion WebEx video conferencing from Cisco that's right you can't even use the I'm in literal space excuse for missing your 9 A.M meeting anymore so in between making mannequin video calls and adding to their Alexa shopping lists how will Helga Zohar and the commander make their way back to Earth well Orion will orbit around the moon for a number of weeks the exact time depends on complex orbital mechanics but when it's time to return Orion will do a second close flyby of the Moon to get a gravity assist slingshotting back to Earth Earth and when it gets back it'll enter Earth's atmosphere at close to 25 000 miles an hour pushing its heat shield to temperatures of up to 5000 degrees Fahrenheit when it's 25 000 feet or about seven and a half kilometers above Earth it'll start deploying a series of parachutes slowing its descent to 20 miles an hour before it splashes down within eyesight of its recovery ship off the coast of San Diego and California this mission is set to tell us a lot about what lunar exploration looks like in the 21st century after all the last time we did this was the 1970s this time with Artemis named for the Greek goddess and sister of Apollo will fly further past the moon we'll learn more about the precious astronauts face in deep space and will hopefully get some truly beautiful images taken of our closest lunar neighbor this is the next step forward in our own new space age and we all get get a front row seat but I want to know what do you think of this launch is this the first one you've watched maybe you've seen some SpaceX launches or you saw the shuttle launches when you were younger you get bonus points if you watched an Apollo launch that's impressive let me know in the comments below and in the meantime make sure you subscribe because we'll have plenty more content coming on this whole Artemis Mission including those first images so you don't want to miss out in the meantime I'm Claire Riley for CNET and today has been a pretty good day in spaceNessa is going back to the moon for the first time in 50 years after years of development and some nail-biting delays the space agency just launched Artemis 1 on its 1.3 million mile Mission around the moon the space launch system NASA's most powerful rocket ever blasted off from Cape Canaveral in Florida ready to take the Orion spacecraft Beyond The Far Side of the Moon it's the furthest we've ever sent a human rated vehicle into space and while there were no humans on board this launch it's Paving the way for a moon landing within just a few years the first time since the Apollo ERA this is a truly historic moment and there are a lot of exciting bursts so let's break it down the mission timeline the special payloads on board and how we'll see the first up close pictures of the moon the Artemis program has been in development for more than a decade and there were delays with this first launch right down to the wire but after comprehensive safety checks the artemis-1 rocket finally lifted off from Launchpad 39b at the Kennedy Space Center the same launch complex that saw the Saturn V launches during the Apollo era within seconds the rocket had cleared its launch Tower and within minutes the spacecraft was on its way to the Moon with the Artemis program NASA is actually sending humans back to the moon for the first time since the Apollo Mission landed in 1972. it'll land the first woman and the first person of color on the lunar surface as soon as 2025 and it's a long-term program NASA wants to get to the Moon with Artemis then build an outpost there for longer duration missions into deep space and on to places like Mars the backbone of Artemis is the orange space launch system rocket that's the huge heavy lift booster with the Orion crew vehicle that sits on top the Artemis one launch in Florida that's the first of three launchers in the initial stages of the program this first uncrewed mission Artemis 1 is testing the capabilities of the SLS Orion and all the Flight Support Systems Artemis 2 the first crude Mission will fly by The Far Side of the Moon without Landing no earlier than 2024 then Artemis 3 will send humans to touchdown on the moon's South Pole potentially as early as 2025. I've actually done a full rundown on the whole Artemis program going behind the scenes at NASA's meshoot assembly facility in New Orleans and the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to see how this historic spacecraft was built it was really cool to see so make sure you check out my other video on that foreign isn't actually landing on the moon it's still an incredibly complex Mission with a lot of Maneuvers that need to happen in perfect sequence here's how the launch went down Artemis 1 blasted off with the help of two solid rocket boosters and four rs-25 engines producing more than 8 million pounds of thrust rocket launchers are often called a controlled explosion and it's easy to see why those solid rocket boosters are responsible for almost 80 percent of the thrust but they were spent in the first two minutes so goodbye rocket boosters by the eight minute Mark Artemis had also burned through all its liquid repellent so the main engines cut off and the orange core stage separated leaving the Orion crew vehicle to orbit the earth alone next up comes the trans lunar injection burn about an hour and a half after launch that's when Orion uses the engine on the interim cryogenic propulsion stage or icps yes NASA loves acronyms to get a boost out into deep space it hit speeds of more than 22 000 miles an hour escaping Earth's orbit and setting its precise path to the Moon with that job done Orion no longer needs its propulsion stage so they separate the icps drops off cubesats into space and the Orion vehicle makes the rest of the Journey To The Moon alone at this stage it's kind of like a long-haul flight Artemis 1 had a very busy takeoff but now it's time to dim the lights and hit the cruising stage it takes Orion several days to reach the moon but during that time NASA is constantly checking systems and making sure everything's okay we'll also see images from the flight thanks to GoPro cameras installed on the solar array wings and several cameras inside the crew Capsule NASA says those cameras will help keep an eye on everything that's happening with the spacecraft but they'll also beam images back to Earth to give us a glimpse of the action and hopefully our first view of the moon when Orion arrives at the Moon it'll get up close and personal doing a powered flyby just 60 miles above the lunar surface then it'll use the moon's gravity to enter what's known as a distant retrograde orbit around the Moon retrograde means it'll orbit around the moon in the opposite direction that the moon orbits around Earth and distant essentially just means it's at a high altitude above the Moon it'll fly about 40 000 miles out past the moon at its furthest point Nassau says that's the furthest a human rated spacecraft has ever flown from Earth there are actually advantages to this being an uncrewed mission NASA doesn't have to worry about keeping astronauts alive or getting them home by a certain time that combined with the fact that the distant retrograde orbit only uses a little fuel means that Orion can spend longer in deep space putting its systems to the test and collecting important data about space flight but while there are no humans on board Artemis 1 NASA did send some passengers up on this Mission the first is a suited up mannequin called Commander moonachin Campos what a pun it will have sensors on its spacesuit and in its crew seat to measure its acceleration and the vibrations experienced during flight there will also be two mannequin torsos called Helga and Zohar which have been fitted with thousands of sensors and made with materials to mimic human Flesh and Bones like Commander Moon again those torsos will be tasked with measuring radiation experience during flight and because this is the year 2022 there will also be Alexa capability on board so you'll be able to ask your smart speaker where Artemis is today and the final Tech demo built into Orion WebEx video conferencing from Cisco that's right you can't even use the I'm in literal space excuse for missing your 9 A.M meeting anymore so in between making mannequin video calls and adding to their Alexa shopping lists how will Helga Zohar and the commander make their way back to Earth well Orion will orbit around the moon for a number of weeks the exact time depends on complex orbital mechanics but when it's time to return Orion will do a second close flyby of the Moon to get a gravity assist slingshotting back to Earth Earth and when it gets back it'll enter Earth's atmosphere at close to 25 000 miles an hour pushing its heat shield to temperatures of up to 5000 degrees Fahrenheit when it's 25 000 feet or about seven and a half kilometers above Earth it'll start deploying a series of parachutes slowing its descent to 20 miles an hour before it splashes down within eyesight of its recovery ship off the coast of San Diego and California this mission is set to tell us a lot about what lunar exploration looks like in the 21st century after all the last time we did this was the 1970s this time with Artemis named for the Greek goddess and sister of Apollo will fly further past the moon we'll learn more about the precious astronauts face in deep space and will hopefully get some truly beautiful images taken of our closest lunar neighbor this is the next step forward in our own new space age and we all get get a front row seat but I want to know what do you think of this launch is this the first one you've watched maybe you've seen some SpaceX launches or you saw the shuttle launches when you were younger you get bonus points if you watched an Apollo launch that's impressive let me know in the comments below and in the meantime make sure you subscribe because we'll have plenty more content coming on this whole Artemis Mission including those first images so you don't want to miss out in the meantime I'm Claire Riley for CNET and today has been a pretty good day in space\n"