There has not been a lot of news about it when Apollo was happening news coverage everywhere and I'm surprised by how many people aren't aware. Artemis 2 launched 4/1 at about 6:35p.m. EDT from Kennedy Center. As I write this the space craft is in orbit around the earth.
This is the first manned Artemis mission and is both a shakedown of the vehicle, systems and an orbit of the moon similar to Apollo 8, and like 8 will not land on the moon. Apollo was a crew of 3 and Artemis is a crew of 4.
The Artemis missions are NASAs return to the moon - the first human missions since the end of the Apollo missions - the last being Apollo 17 in December of 1972. Artemis in Greek mythology was the twin sister of Apollo fitting since there is a female astronaut on board - the first to visit the moon and females will be crew members of future missions.
For those not familiar with the program Artemis is slated to establish a base at the south lunar pole that will be permanently manned in the 2030's.
I personally am pretty excited about a return to space.
I watched it blast off yesterday and it brought back memories of watching the lift offs in grade school on the black-and-white TV set up in the gymnasium of our little school.
USA USA USA USA
🇺🇸
I watched it. I have to admit I was a little bit apprehensive as the last launch I watched live was Challenger (and I've recently listened to the podcast outlining the organisational failures within NASA that led to the Challenger and Columbia disasters).
Was just watching an update. They are about half way to the moon and it seems the biggest problem is a burning smell coming from the hygiene bay (toilet).
Quote from: j.a.f.e. on Apr 04, 2026, 10:26 AMWas just watching an update. They are about half way to the moon and it seems the biggest problem is a burning smell coming from the hygiene bay (toilet).
somebody forget to turn on the fan on maybe...... ;D
Quote from: skfarmer on Apr 05, 2026, 03:29 PMQuote from: j.a.f.e. on Apr 04, 2026, 10:26 AMWas just watching an update. They are about half way to the moon and it seems the biggest problem is a burning smell coming from the hygiene bay (toilet).
somebody forget to turn on the fan on maybe...... ;D
Taco Bell?! ;D
The Orion is pretty small and it's crewed with four people for ten days and the astronauts only get a form of a sponge bath so it probably doesn't smell all that great anyway.