On April 10th, 2026, off the coast San Diego, California at 8:07 EDT, the Orion capsule named Integrity carrying the crew of Artemis II consisting of commander Reid Wisemann, pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen splashed into the Pacific Ocean, and thus concluding a historic 10-day mission that brought humans further into space than ever before and completed a series of firsts such as bringing the first person of color, first woman, and the first non-U.S. citizen out of Earth orbit and around the Moon. However, this mission besides being filled with historic moments, once-in-a lifetime photo opportunities, and scientific investigations was also filled with whimsical and sometimes viral moments such as the crew playing with their zero-g indicator Rise or a stray Nutella jar, Artemis II has much to talk about.
Flight Day 1
Day one of Artemis was one of the most high adrenaline days of the mission as it consisted of the moment that people had been waiting for, launch day. And after a few delays regarding hydrogen and helium alongside some weather mishaps, on April 1st, 2026, at 6:35 EDT at the Kennedy Space Center, on Launch Pad 39B, the rocket carrying the Artemis II crew called the SLS or Space Launch System, lifted off the ground and began the start of the 10-day mission. However, besides launch other things occurred during the first day, one critical step was for the crew to get used to living on Orion and making sure that all systems were nominal before heading to Moon. Except one system wasn’t nominal that being the two Microsoft Outlooks Reid Wisemann had open on his PCD (Personal Computing Device) which require some IT help from Houston to resolve.
Flight Day 2
Day two consisted of a critical maneuver that would send the crew on a trajectory to the Moon. Called the Translunar Injection burn, Orion’s main engine fired for five minutes and fifty seconds which delivered 6,700 pounds of thrust and would get the crew out of Earth’s orbit and on a flight path headed to the Moon. Flight day two also consisted of astronauts trying out the onboard exercise machine called the flywheel exercise device which was made to combat the affects that microgravity has on the human body especially with deep space missions like Artemis. Combined with more routine tasks like ensuring all systems were functioning one important system that wasn’t working that we take for granted down on Earth was the toilet. During this day, the Universal Waste Management System, or as everyone else calls it the toilet had a malfunction which took the combined efforts of Mission Control in Houston and Christina Koch to get the $23 million dollar toilet working again. Christina also embraced the new title given to her “The space plumber”.
Flight Days 3-5
These days mainly consisted of ensuring everything was ready for the anticipated lunar flyby on Day 6. One of these preparations on day three included an outbound trajectory correction burn which would correct Orion’s trajectory towards the Moon. Ultimately this burn was cancelled as according to mission control, Orion was already in a perfect trajectory. Additionally, day three also allowed the four astronauts to capture stunning images of Earth’s night side using a Nikon D5. Day four mainly consisted of testing Orion’s deep space capabilities and the crew preparing for lunar observations. However, during the wake up song which mission control selected for day four’s wake up song to be Pink Pony Club by Chappell Roan which was cut off right before the song’s chorus which disappointed the crew as Commander Reid Wisemann stated, “We were all eagerly awaiting the chorus.” Day five was relatively relaxed with the crew receiving their final list of science targets and a trajectory correction burn combined with other preparations set the stage for day six: The big day.
Flight Day 6
The long awaited day of Artemis II finally came on Monday, April 6th 2026 signifying the first humans to return to the Moon’s vicinity since the days of Apollo. This day was met with explosive fanfare from both Integrity and down on Earth with various pictures of the Moon and its features being sent. Additionally, the astronauts were also able to recreate the iconic “Earthrise” photo taken on Apollo 8. Speaking of Apollo 8, the crew of Integrity listened to a recorded message from Jim Lovell who was an astronaut on Apollo 8 where he “welcomed the four astronauts to his old neighboorhood” and in essence passed the torch of lunar missions from Apollo to Artemis. Amid, the joviality onboard Artemis, a tender moment occurred during the flyby where Jeremy Hansen proposed naming a crater on the far side of the Moon “Carroll” named after Reid Wisemann’s late wife Carroll Wisemann who passed of cancer in 2020. This sparked some tears from both the crew on Integrity, Mission Control, and the general public, the crew even gathered in a group hug. Although a particularly nerve-wracking moment had to occur during this day. Due to the Orion spacecraft having to fly behind the Moon in order to use its gravity to slingshot itself back to Earth, this meant that direct line of communication would be lost for approximately 40 minutes due the Moon physically block radio waves from reaching NASA’s Deep Space Network from Integrity and vice versa, however, this also meant that Artemis II was aiming to break the record for the furthest distance ever traveled by humans. However, four minutes before the record was broken, during the Livestream, a rouge Nutella jar floated into frame and tumbled through Integrity and stealing the show. Once the communications blackout ended and communication was restored, the crew of Integrity shared some never seen before photos: a solar eclipse viewed not on Earth but from deep space. However, as the phrase goes all good things must come to an end with Orion zipping its way around the Moon and catching a flight back home to Earth.
Flight Day 7
After the excitement of day six faded, Orion ignited its thrusters for 15 seconds which was first the return trajectory burn that would set a course for the crew to return to the Moon. Additionally, day seven also included a call from the International Space Station to Integrity which besides some congratulatory messages included discussions on what was the onboard menu on Integrity compared to the ISS. This historic call was the first ever ship-to-ship radio call and the first call from astronauts from deep space to astronauts to low Earth orbit.
Flight Days 8-9
Flight days eight and nine like flight days three, four, and five were just maintenance days and science days with the astronauts testing out specialized suits that would help manage their blood pressure during reentry alongside other tests alongside the continued transmission of images gathered from the previous flight days. Day nine was the final full day in space where the mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen began to prepare the Orion capsule for the critical reentry phase of Artemis II that would determine if the astronauts onboard Integrity would return safely home.
Flight Day 10
Finally after 9 days in space, Artemis II was heading home, after one final correction burn that finalized the trajectory of Orion occurred, then the capsule carrying the astronauts separated from the service module which would harmlessly burn up in the atmosphere. Now just a small capsule, Integrity had to face its toughest challenge yet; reentry into Earth’s atmosphere. Due to the speed of the capsule during reentry which was around 25,000 mph this meant that as it began to enter our atmosphere not only would friction cause immense heating but due to the speed of the capsule it also compressed the air in front of it causing the distinctive “fireball” you see during reentry. This superheated plasma is nearly half as hot as the surface of the sun, also this plasma is also responsible for another communications blackout to occur as the plasma blocked radio waves from reaching or leaving Orion thus leaving us in the blue for six minutes on what was going on with the astronauts. The only thing protecting these astronauts from burning up in the atmosphere or being cooked alive within their own capsule was the heat shield. Designed to easily withstand temperatures of 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit, the heat shield was also made to ablate which means the heat shield would also slowly erode from the heat which sounds bad but was intentional as eroded material would be carrying tons of heat with it and also helped in keeping the astronauts safe. Finally after 13 long minutes, Integrity deployed its main parachutes to slow itself down to a slow and steady 20 mph and splashed down into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of the San Diego. From there the USS John P. Murtha recovered the capsule and opened the hatch welcoming Reid, Christina, Jeremy, and Victor back on Earth. Thus concludes Artemis II.
Artemis II multimedia: https://www.nasa.gov/artemis-ii-multimedia/
View the Artemis II Coverage by NASA on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2aBZuCeDwlQvNtHhNJtarm9OewQwVntv
Listen to the Spotify Playlist of Artemis II’s Wake-up Songs: open.spotify.com/playlist/0WO94bzZeuUun777vv6UJu
